Media Effects

Measurable Effects
Social Psychological Approach
Attitudes
Studying Attitudes
Consistency and Rationalization
Persuasion
Concept of Attitudes
Components of Attitudes
Structure of Attitudes
Functions of Attitudes
Attitudes and Behaviour
Persuasion and Attitude Change
Studying Attitudes
Source, Message and Contextual Factors in Persuasion

MEDIA EFFECTS
Media Research Usually Focuses On::
CONTENT
EXPOSURE TO CONTENT
EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE
Direct
Indirect
Cumulative

MEASURABLE EFFECTS

Behavioural
Attitudinal
Cognitive
Physiological

Media as a model for behaviour

Media exposure can induce, modify,

resist or change attitude and
behaviour

Processing, understanding and

remembering media disseminated
information

Physiological changes in the body from

media exposure

Difficult to measure

Many intervening variables that

influence behaviour

Do people sometimes change their

minds based on information provided
by the media?

HISTORY:
Systematic study of attitudes and
attitude change began during World
War 2.

Study of attitudes as countervailing

force against Nazi Propaganda

HISTORY:
1950s-1990s:
Persuasion Research
Attitude Theories

(Communication and Persuasion (Hovland,

1953)

:
Observable communication stimuli
Pre-dispositional factors
Internal mediating factors
Observable communication effects

Reinforcement Approach:
Learning /Reinforcement Theory (1940s -1950s)
Who says what to whom and with what effect?

Classical Conditioning Approach:

Attitude an emotional response to word
associations (Staats & Staats,1959)

Functional Approach
Functional Theory (Katz, 1960)
Attitude change the result of a number of
intervening variables operating
simultaneously, based on rational and
irrational models of man,

Cognitivist Approach
Identification of thought processes
involved in attitude change. (Greenwald,
1968; Eagly, 1992)
Habits of thinking influence feelings
Predictability therefore underlies theory

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

( Festinger,1964)
Does attitude change from persuasive
messages actually result in behaviour
change?

Cognitive Consistency Theory

(Greenwald & Eagly, 1968 & 1992))
Attitude change results from receivers
actively thinking about the message

CONCEPT OF CONSISTENCY
People strive for consistency between:

Attitudes
Behaviours
Attitudes and behaviours
Individual personality traits
Perceptions of the world
(Greenwald, 1968; Eagly, 1992)

CONCEPT OF CONSISTENCY
WHY?

To bring order and reason into our lives

To behave in a rational and predictable way

Rationalization:

Explain irational behaviour in a

rational way
Can attitude change eliminate
psychological discomfort of inconsistency?
Attitude.Behaviour?
BehaviourAttitude ?

Change in mental state as a precursor to

behaviour and usually via
communication/language (OKeefe, 2002)

A successful intentional effort at

influencing anothers mental state
through communication in a
circumstance in which the persuadee
has some measure of freedom
(OKeefe:2002)

DEFINITIONS

(Various definitions of concept)

The evaluation of persons, places and

things
OR
An evaluative judgment of or reaction
to an object

DEFINITION:

A mental and neutral state of readiness,

organised through experience, exerting a
directive or dynamic influence upon the
individuals responses to all objects and
situations with which it is related (Aplort,
1989:45)

Affective
Emotional reactions to a particular topic

Cognitive
Direct acquisition of beliefs about a
particular topic

Behavioural
Translation of attitude into actual behaviour

Inter-attitudinal - clustering in groups

Intra-attitudinal - relationships of three

components

Instrumental / Adjustive / Utilitarian

Maximize rewards and minimize penalties

Ego-Defensive

Self-protection from unacceptable impulses

Value-Expressive

Positive expression of ones central values omes

individuality

Knowledge

Provide structure and meaning in ones world

e.g., religious beliefs, shared cultural norms.

Factors in Attitude Change (Ajzen &

Fishbein, 1970)
Attitude toward performing that
behaviour

Perception of norms governing that

behaviour

Motivation to comply with those norms

Intervening Variables Between Attitude

and Behaviour:

Motivational Relevance
Vested Interest
Attitude accessibility
Affective-cognitive consistency
Analysis of reason for attitude.

Constraints on behaviour also include existing

circumstances and perceived results.

Relationship Between Persuasion and

Attitude Change
Attitude change as a necessary aspect of
persuasion (Beisecker & Parson, 1972:5)
Persuasion as one specie of attitude change
(Levy, Collins & Niall, 1998)

Persuasion as identical with attitude

change in general (Chaiken, Wood &
Eagly,1996)

Credibility
Liking
Similarity
Physical Attractiveness

Structure
Recommendations specificity
One-sided vs. two-sided messages
Fear Appeals
Examples vs. statistical summaries

General Persuasability
Gender
Individual Differences
Inoculation
Primacy-Recency
Medium