PSYCHOLOGY OF MEDIA & COMMUNICATION
LECTURE 1: INTRODUCTION AND INFLUENCE
CHAPTER 1: INFLUENCE Definition, history and model
INTRODUCTION
Advertising: means to call attention to something or notify and warn people through announcements in
public mediums.
increase in the variety of media for disseminating information, with television being a dominant advertising
medium.
BRIEF HISTORY OF INFLUENCE RESEARCH
Aristotle, Plato's famous pupil, is considered the founder of argumentation studies and approached
persuasion academically persuasion's power depended on persuader, recipient, and message's content.
- emphasized the importance of considering the audience's preferences and sensitivities.
- These early insights influenced later research on influence, including Lasswell's model of
communication and studies on attitudes and attitude change.
Attitudes
The industrial revolution led to the availability of more products and services, increasing the interest in
persuasion.
Focus on Linguistic Aspects: Early research on persuasion primarily focused on linguistic aspects of
messages, such as their form and meaning.
Shift Towards Process Analysis: The focus of persuasion research shifted toward analyzing the process
involved in persuasion, particularly during the Second World War.
Lasswell's model of communication, asking "who says what in which channel to whom, with what effect,"
Attitude: evaluative response – positive or negative – to a person, a situation, a product, an idea or an
organisation.
Hovland and his team at Yale University studied factors influencing attitudes and behavior change.
- characteristics of the message source, message content, and recipient influenced attitude change
Hovland's 4-step process model of persuasion/ Yale model of persuasion: attention, understanding,
acceptance, and retention.
, - Limitations: Yale model focuses on motivated people but does not delve into the process or its impact
Factors Affecting Persuasion: likelihood of completing the persuasion process depends on factors such as
the recipient's willingness to pay attention and the relevance of the message.
Influence of Existing Attitudes: Existing attitudes affect the persuasive power of a new message.
Messages that align with a person's existing attitudes are more persuasive.
McGuire's Inoculation Theory: 6 steps in persuasion: presentation, attention, comprehension, yielding,
retention, and behavior.
Cognitive Response Theory Greenwald: how information processing affects attitudes.
- Interim processes determine whether attitudes and behavior will change.
Advertising and influence
AIDA Model (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) describe the steps that can influence the recipient of a
message in advertising and marketing.
- These components align with psychological models of influence.
- extended by adding an 'S' for 'satisfaction' (AIDAS) to ensure customer loyalty and repeat purchases.
- Non-Sequential Process: 4 steps occur in parallel, and some steps may be skipped.
- assumes that people allocate time and attention to the information, which may not always be the case.
- Passivity Assumption: views the recipient of advertising as passive, in contrast to most contemporary
psychological models of influence.
Influence and ethics
2 extreme viewpoints exist regarding influence: one aligns with Plato's rejection of manipulation (similar to
the rejection of sophists' rhetoric), while the other emphasizes freedom to do what one wishes with
received information as long as it doesn't involve force.
influence can occur without conscious awareness, challenging assumptions that all attitude change is
conscious.
Content of this book
,
, CHAPTER 2: ATTITUDES & BEHAVIOUR
INTRODUCTION
Influence attempts aim to change behavior, but changing behavior directly can be challenging.
- influence focuses on modifying attitudes in the hope that it will eventually lead to behavior change.
attitude object: people’s evaluative responses – positive or negative – to a stimulus
- can be a person (politician, landlord, yourself), organisation (tax authority, social services), situation (a
party, school), product (food, cosmetics) or idea (halting immigration, raising motorway speed limit).
Attitudes, attitude formation and behaviour
latent construct: attitude is not directly observable; its nature has to be inferred from the visible responses
induced by the attitude object.
Attitudes are not directly observable; their nature is inferred from observable responses induced by the
attitude object.
Attitudes are considered latent constructs, meaning they are not directly visible or measurable.
- start with the attitude object or a representation of it This invokes an attitude in the observer, which is
not visible in itself but can be deduced from the response we do see to the object.
These can be non-verbal signals (a nod, a smile, a facial expression), verbal statements (‘I think that
laptop’s the best in its price category’, ‘those flowers are ugly’) or actions (buying laptop).
3 Components of Attitudes:
1. cognitive response: comprises the thoughts aroused by particular characteristics of the attitude object,
2. affective response: takes the form of feelings, sentiments or emotions an attitude object elicits. These can
be expressed through verbal and non-verbal communications but also through a physiological response –
an accelerated heartbeat, for instance.
3. behavioural response: things like consumer buying habits, voter behaviour in elections and interpersonal
activities, such as helping someone you like.
Each of the 3 components – cognition, affect and behaviour – manifests an evaluation.
