PERSUASION STUDIES

Communicator - Message - Channel - Receiver - Effect

• Who, Says What, In What Channel, To Whom, With What Effect?

Hypodermic Needle/ Magic Bullet Theory

Three Assumptions:

1. Will have a large effect on people.
2. Effect is direct (can't resist, you're just a target).
3. Uniform effect (doesn't matter whether you are young or old, effects equally).

Carl Hovland and Persuasion Research (1942-1961)

Research Questions:

• Will an individual attitude predict behavior or action by that individual at a later time?
• Do attitudes affect behavior?
• How do the various aspects of communication (source, message, channel, etc.) contribute to its attitude-change impact?

Hovland's Components of Persuasion

• Communicator - Credibility
• Trustworthiness - Can I trust this person?
• Expertise - Does he know what he is talking about?
• Attractiveness - Physical appearance and "Is he/she my sort of person, someone I would like to know?"
• Power - Power over the receiver (ie. Will kill/fire you if you don't obey).
• Message - Humor, Tone, Accent, Type of Appeal (ie. appeals to fear)
• Channel - Mass medium, interpersonal, etc.
• Receiver - Demographics (age, young are impressionable), belief system, social standing.

Specific Question of Army Studies

• Aim: to recruit and mobilize young men to join war effort.
• Examination of WHY WE FIGHT series of films
  • What was the persuasive effects of training films on soldiers?
  • Practical: How to train drafted civilians? Why should they fight? Who are the enemies? Who are the allies? Why fight to kill?

Methods: Survey - Film - Post-survey

Conclusions

• Soldiers knowledge of why there was a WWII increased.
• No measurable effects on men's motivations to serve as soldiers.
• "Hierarchy of effects" = individuals knowledge changes more than attitudes.