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<title>Aberrant decoding</title>

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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Aberrant decoding</span></span>

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<p><b>Aberrant decoding</b> or <b>aberrant reading</b> is a concept used in fields such as <a href="Communication_studies" title="Communication studies">communication</a> and <a href="Media_studies" title="Media studies">media studies</a>, <a href="Semiotics" title="Semiotics">semiotics</a>, and <a href="Journalism" title="Journalism">journalism</a> about how messages can be interpreted differently from what was intended by their sender. The concept was proposed by <a href="Umberto_Eco" title="Umberto Eco">Umberto Eco</a> in an article published first in 1965 in <a href="Italian_language" title="Italian language">Italian</a> and in 1972 in English.<sup id="cite_ref-Eco1972_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Eco1972-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Concept">Concept</h2></div>

<p>Every <a href="Communication" title="Communication">communication</a> act requires that the messages must be <a href="Encode_(semiotics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Encode (semiotics)">encoded</a> into a set of <a href="Sign_(semiotics)" title="Sign (semiotics)">signs</a> by the sender. These signs must then be transmitted and <a href="Decode_(semiotics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Decode (semiotics)">decoded</a> by the receiver to understand the contained messages. The <a href="Code" title="Code">code system</a> must be shared by both the sender and the receiver in order for the communication to succeed. For example, thoughts must be encoded into words, transmitted through air, and then be decoded back to thoughts. Often the sender has a certain meaning to convey with his message, hoping the receiver will interpret it correctly. This right interpretation can be called the <i>preferred decoding</i> or <i>preferred reading</i>. When the interpretation of the message is different from what was intended, this can be called <i>aberrant decoding</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-Fiske1990_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Fiske1990-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Aberrant decodings can occur in a more widespread range of situations, as wrong interpretation of a media product or text whose incoming message is not the one intended by the creator of the product or text.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>According to Eco, aberrant decodings were rare in <a href="Pre-industrial_society" title="Pre-industrial society">pre-industrial societies</a>, when most communication occurred between people who shared the same <a href="Culture" title="Culture">culture</a>. He lists four classes of exceptions where aberrant decodings could have happened:<sup id="cite_ref-Hartley2002_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Hartley2002-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<ul><li>People who did not share the same language.</li>

<li>People trying to interpret the meanings of past cultures. For example, <a href="Middle_Ages" title="Middle Ages">Medieval</a> people looking at <a href="Roman_art" title="Roman art">Roman art</a>.</li>

<li>People who did not share the same <a href="Belief_system" class="mw-redirect" title="Belief system">belief system</a>. For example, <a href="Christians" title="Christians">Christians</a> looking at <a href="Paganism" title="Paganism">pagan</a> art.</li>

<li>People who came from different cultures. For example, white <a href="Europeans" class="mw-redirect" title="Europeans">Europeans</a> looking at <a href="Aboriginal_art" class="mw-redirect" title="Aboriginal art">Aboriginal art</a>.</li></ul>

<p>Eco continues that in contemporary media, instead of being exceptions, aberrant decodings have become the norm. For example, TV broadcasters know beforehand that their messages will be interpreted in various ways. He speculated that because of this freedom of interpretation, the power of media over individuals might be much less influential than is thought.<sup id="cite_ref-Hartley2002_4-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Hartley2002-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>This idea of examining the messages contained in the media and how the audience interprets them has since become one of the core concepts of academic media research. Eco's article influenced, among others, <a href="Stuart_Hall_(cultural_theorist)" title="Stuart Hall (cultural theorist)">Stuart Hall</a>'s <a href="Hall's_Theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Hall's Theory">encoding/decoding theory</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Hartley2002_4-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Hartley2002-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p><a href="John_Fiske_(media_scholar)" title="John Fiske (media scholar)">John Fiske</a> has argued that aberrant decoding occurs mainly with <a href="Iconography" title="Iconography">iconic codes</a>, referring to visual messages.<sup id="cite_ref-Fiske1990_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Fiske1990-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>note 1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> As an example, he explains how prehistoric cave paintings of animals are often seen as graceful and moving. However, in 1960, <a href="M._L._J._Abercrombie" class="mw-redirect" title="M. L. J. Abercrombie">Margaret Abercrombie</a><sup id="cite_ref-Abercrombie1960_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Abercrombie1960-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> claimed that the paintings are, in fact, depictions of dead animals. Thus, if we accept Abercrombie's claim, we can argue that our modern culture, where we value living animals and only rarely encounter dead ones, has led us to aberrant decoding of the paintings.

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<ul><li><a href="Authorial_intent" title="Authorial intent">Authorial intent</a></li>

<li><a href="Context_(language_use)" class="mw-redirect" title="Context (language use)">Context (language use)</a></li>

<li><a href="Death_of_the_Author" class="mw-redirect" title="Death of the Author">Death of the Author</a></li>

<li><a href="Decode_(semiotics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Decode (semiotics)">Decode (semiotics)</a></li>

<li><a href="Encode_(semiotics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Encode (semiotics)">Encode (semiotics)</a></li>

<li><a href="Encoding/decoding_model_of_communication" title="Encoding/decoding model of communication">Encoding/decoding model of communication</a></li>

<li><a href="Objective_correlative" title="Objective correlative">Objective correlative</a></li>

<li><a href="Opaque_context" title="Opaque context">Opaque context</a></li>

<li><a href="Polysemy" title="Polysemy">Polysemy</a></li>

<li><a href="Reader-response_criticism" title="Reader-response criticism">Reader-response criticism</a></li>

<li><a href="Reception_theory" title="Reception theory">Reception theory</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2></div>

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<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Iconic codes</i> or <i>iconic signs</i> in semiotics and communication theory could also refer to a <a href="Semiotic_elements_and_classes_of_signs" class="mw-redirect" title="Semiotic elements and classes of signs">class of signs</a> defined by <a href="Iconicity" title="Iconicity">iconicity</a> (as in <a href="Charles_Sanders_Peirce" title="Charles Sanders Peirce">Peirce</a>'s triadic sign theory). But in this case Fiske contrasts iconic signs with "verbal language" (p. 78).</span>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFEco1972" class="citation journal cs1">Eco, Umberto (1972). "Towards a Semiotic Inquiry Into the Television Message". <i>Working Papers in Cultural Studies</i>. <b>3</b>. trans. Paola Splendore. University of Birmingham: <span class="nowrap">103–</span>21.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-Fiske1990-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Fiske1990_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Fiske1990_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFFiske1990" class="citation book cs1">Fiske, John (1990). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/introductiontoco00fisk_0"><i>Introduction to Communication Studies</i></a></span> (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0415046725</bdi>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Danesi, Marcel (2009), Dictionary of Media and Communications. M.E.Sharpe, Armonk, New York. p. 3</span>

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<li id="cite_note-Hartley2002-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Hartley2002_4-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Hartley2002_4-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Hartley2002_4-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFHartleyRennie,_ElinorBrennan,_Marc2002" class="citation book cs1">Hartley, John; Rennie, Elinor; Brennan, Marc (2002). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/communicationcul0000hart"><i>Communication, Cultural and Media Studies: The key concepts</i></a></span> (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0415268899</bdi>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-Abercrombie1960-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Abercrombie1960_6-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFAbercrombie1960" class="citation book cs1">Abercrombie, Margaret (1960). <i>The Anatomy of Judgement: An Investigation into the Processes of Perception and Reasoning</i>. London: Hutchinson. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-1299246812</bdi>.</cite> <span class="cs1-hidden-error citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{cite book}}</code>: </span><span class="cs1-hidden-error citation-comment">ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)</span></span>

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