Influence Social Media Inchanging Public Perception
PERSPECTIVE ATTITUDE CHANGE
During the war, psychologist Carl Hovland had investigated the relationship of communication to attitude assessment. The assumption that attitudes could predict behaviors was a major break with Skinners brand of behaviorism. According to research on attitude change, human behavior is guided by many constraints, but among the most important are attitudes. Moreover, contemporary persuasion research still views attitude change as one key to changing behavior. The question for researchers then becomes. Hovland attempted to isolate many of the factors leading to effective persuasion through an ambitious program of research. The Yale group assumed that people would change their attitudes if provided with sufficient reinforcement for or evidence in support of the change. In other words, people need motivation to process information that will change their existing attitudes and the actions that flow from those attitudes. The researchers maintained that persuasion passed through a chain of five steps or stage. According to information-processing theory, attitude change accurs in five steps. First is Attention. If persuades do not attend to a message, they cannot be persuaded by it. Second is Comprehension. If persuaded do not understand or comprehend a message, they cannot be persuaded by it. Third is Acceptance. If persuades reject the message after attending to and comprehending it, they will no be persuaded. Fourth is Retention. Most of the time, persuaded have to withhold action for some time after comprehending and accepting the message. They therefore must retain or remember the message until the time comes to act on it and lastly is Action. The specific behavioral change or action requested in the message must be in accordance with the accepted and retained appeals. The Yale approach assumes that people act in logical ways that are consistent with the argument of persuader. Although each of these elements in the persuasive process
During the war, psychologist Carl Hovland had investigated the relationship of communication to attitude assessment. The assumption that attitudes could predict behaviors was a major break with Skinners brand of behaviorism. According to research on attitude change, human behavior is guided by many constraints, but among the most important are attitudes. Moreover, contemporary persuasion research still views attitude change as one key to changing behavior. The question for researchers then becomes. Hovland attempted to isolate many of the factors leading to effective persuasion through an ambitious program of research. The Yale group assumed that people would change their attitudes if provided with sufficient reinforcement for or evidence in support of the change. In other words, people need motivation to process information that will change their existing attitudes and the actions that flow from those attitudes. The researchers maintained that persuasion passed through a chain of five steps or stage. According to information-processing theory, attitude change accurs in five steps. First is Attention. If persuades do not attend to a message, they cannot be persuaded by it. Second is Comprehension. If persuaded do not understand or comprehend a message, they cannot be persuaded by it. Third is Acceptance. If persuades reject the message after attending to and comprehending it, they will no be persuaded. Fourth is Retention. Most of the time, persuaded have to withhold action for some time after comprehending and accepting the message. They therefore must retain or remember the message until the time comes to act on it and lastly is Action. The specific behavioral change or action requested in the message must be in accordance with the accepted and retained appeals. The Yale approach assumes that people act in logical ways that are consistent with the argument of persuader. Although each of these elements in the persuasive process