The four-sides model is a communication model by Friedemann Schulz von Thun

Friedemann Schulz von Thun

Friedemann Schulz von Thun is a German psychologist and expert for interpersonal communication and intrapersonal communication. Schulz von Thun worked as a professor of psychology at the University of Hamburg until his retirement on 30 Sep. 2009...

. According to this model every news has four messages. The four sides of the news are fact, self-revealing, relationship, and appeal.

Relationship

The communication square describes the multi-layered structure of human utterance. It combines the postulate (second axiom) of Paul Watzlawick

Paul Watzlawick

Paul Watzlawick was an Austrian-American psychologist and philosopher. A theoretician in communication theory and radical constructivism, he has commented in the fields of family therapy and general psychotherapy...

, that every communication has a content and a relationship aspect, with the three sides of the Organon model

Organon model

The Organon model, formulated by Karl Bühler, defined the communication functions according to which linguistic communication can be described...

 by Karl Bühler, that every information contains something about the matter, the sender and the receiver. Such models are familiar in the linguastic as models of the speech act

Speech act

Speech Act is a technical term in linguistics and the philosophy of language. The contemporary use of the term goes back to John L. Austin's doctrine of locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts...

.

The four sides of communication

• The matter layer contains statements which are matter of fact like data and facts, which are part of the news.
• In the self-revealing
  I-statement
  An I-statement is a statement that begins with the word "I". It is frequently used in an attempt to be assertive without putting the listener on the defensive. It can be used to take ownership for one's feelings rather than saying they are caused by the other person...
  
  or self-disclosure
  Self-disclosure
  Self-disclosure is both the conscious and subconscious act of revealing more about oneself to others. This may include, but is not limited to, thoughts, feelings, aspirations, goals, failures, successes, fears, dreams as well as one's likes, dislikes, and favorites.Typically, a self-disclosure...
  
   the speaker - conscious or not intended - tells something about himself, his motives, values, emotions etc.
• In the Relationship-layer is expressed resp. received, how the sender gets along with the receiver and what he thinks of him.

• The Appeal contains the desire, advice, instruction and effects that the speaker is seeking for.

Every layer can be misunderstood individually.
The classic example of Schulz von Thun is the front-seat passenger which tells the driver: "You, the traffic lights are green". The driver will understand something different regarding to the ear with which he will hear and will react differently. (on the matter layer he will understand the "fact" "the traffic lights are green" , he could also understand it as "Come on, drive! ."-"command", or on the "relationship" could hear a help like "I want to help you or if you hear behind it: I am in a hurry it reveals part of yourself "self-revelatory".") The emphasis on the four layers can be meant differently and also be understood differently. So the sender can stress the appeal of the statement and the receiver can mainly receive the relationship part of the message. This is one of the main reasons for misunderstandings.

The matter layer

What I inform about:

On the matter layer the sender of the news gives data, fact and statements. It is the task of the sender to send this information clearly and understandably.

The receiver proves with the Matter ear, whether the matter message fulfills the criteria of truth (true/untrue) or relevance (relevant/irrelevant) and the completeness (satisfying/ something has to be added).

In a long-term team the matter layer is clear and needs only a few words.

The self-revealing

What I reveal about myself:

In every news there are information about the sender.
On the layer of the self-revealing or self-disclosure

Self-disclosure

Self-disclosure is both the conscious and subconscious act of revealing more about oneself to others. This may include, but is not limited to, thoughts, feelings, aspirations, goals, failures, successes, fears, dreams as well as one's likes, dislikes, and favorites.Typically, a self-disclosure...

 the sender reveals himself. This message consists of conscious intended self-expression as well as unintended self-revealing, which is not conscious to the sender(see also Johari window

Johari window

The Johari window is a technique created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955 in the United States, used to help people better understand their mental instability...

). Thus every news becomes information about the personality of the sender.

The self-revealing ear of the receiver perceives, which information about the sender are hidden in the message.

The relationship layer

What I think about you (You-Statement) and how we get along (We-Statement):

The relationship layer expresses how the sender gets along with the receiver and what he thinks about him. Depending on how he talks to him (way of formulation, body language, intonation ...) he expresses esteem, respect, friendliness, disinterest, contempt or something else.

Depending which message the receiver hears with relationship ear he feels either depressed accepted or patronized. A good communication is distinguished by communication from mutual apprecitation.“

The appeal

What I want to make you do:

Who states something, will also effect something. This appeal-message should make the receiver do something or leave something undone. The try to influence someone can be less or more open (Advice) or hidden (manipulation).

On the Appeal ear the receiver asks himself: "What body part should I feel now?"

citation: " Mothers are very appeal-influenced by children."
Mum! The shoes .... Yes! I am right there and put them on for you.

Example

A man (first sender of the news) and a woman (first receiver of the message) are eating a homecooked meal together.

The man says: "There is something green in the soup." The woman answers: "If you don't like the taste, you can cook it yourself."
Sender

Matter layer:	There is something green.
Self-revealing layer:	I don't know what it is.
Relationship layer:	You should know what it is.
Appeal layer:	Tell me what it is!

Receiver

Matter layer:	There is something green.
Self-revealing layer:	You do not know what the green item is, and that makes you feel uncomfortable.
Relationship layer:	You think my cooking is questionable.
Appeal layer:	I should only cook what you know in the future!

See also

• Karl Bühler: Organon-Modell
• communication theory
  Communication theory
  Communication theory is a field of information and mathematics that studies the technical process of information and the human process of human communication.- History :- Origins :...
  
  
• Organon model
  Organon model
  The Organon model, formulated by Karl Bühler, defined the communication functions according to which linguistic communication can be described...
  
  
• Roman Jakobson
  Roman Jakobson
  Roman Osipovich Jakobson was a Russian linguist and literary theorist.As a pioneer of the structural analysis of language, which became the dominant trend of twentieth-century linguistics, Jakobson was among the most influential linguists of the century...
  
  : communication model
• Speech act
  Speech act
  Speech Act is a technical term in linguistics and the philosophy of language. The contemporary use of the term goes back to John L. Austin's doctrine of locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts...
  
  
• Subtext
  Subtext
  Subtext or undertone is content of a book, play, musical work, film, video game, or television series which is not announced explicitly by the characters but is implicit or becomes something understood by the observer of the work as the production unfolds. Subtext can also refer to the thoughts...
  
  
• Interpersonal communication
  Interpersonal communication
  Interpersonal communication is usually defined by communication scholars in numerous ways, usually describing participants who are dependent upon one another. It...
  
  

Publications

• Friedemann Schulz von Thun
  Friedemann Schulz von Thun
  Friedemann Schulz von Thun is a German psychologist and expert for interpersonal communication and intrapersonal communication. Schulz von Thun worked as a professor of psychology at the University of Hamburg until his retirement on 30 Sep. 2009...
  
  : Miteinander reden: Störungen und Klärungen. Psychologie der zwischenmenschlichen Kommunikation. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1981. ISBN 3499174898

External links

• Beschreibung des Vier-Seiten-Modells auf der Website von Friedemann Schulz von Thun