Page 170 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

7. MASS MEDIA ATTITUDE CHANGE 159

for the candidate. Or, mere repeated exposure to a product name in radio
message might lead the listener to like the product name and therefore
select it for purchase without much thought on the next shopping trip
(Fazio, 1990).
Over the past 50 years, numerous theories of attitude change and mod-
els of knowledge–attitude–behavior relationships have been developed
(see reviews by Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Petty, Priester, & Wegener, 1994;
Petty & Wegener, 1998a). Contemporary analyses of mass media persua-
sion have focused on the variables that determine when the media will be
effective versus ineffective and what the underlying processes are by
which the media induce change. Perhaps the most well-known psycho-
logical framework for categorizing and understanding mass media per-
suasion effects was popularized by Hovland and his colleagues (e.g.,
Hovland, 1954; Hovland, Janis, & Kelley, 1953) and elaborated consider-
ably by William McGuire (McGuire, 1985, 1989; see McGuire, 1996, for a
review of the Hovland approach). After describing this early influential
model, we turn to more contemporary approaches.

The Communication/Persuasion Matrix Model of Media Effects

One of the most basic assumptions of initial theories of attitude change
(e.g., Strong, 1925) that is also evident in contemporary approaches (e.g.,
McGuire, 1985) was that effective influence required a sequence of steps
(Petty & Cacioppo, 1984b). For example, Fig. 7.1 presents McGuire’s
(1985, 1989) Communication/Persuasion Matrix model of persuasion.
This model outlines the inputs (or independent variables) to the persua-
sion process that media persuaders can control along with the outputs (or
dependent variables) that can be measured to see if any influence attempt
is successful.

Matrix Inputs. The inputs to the persuasion process in Fig. 7.1 are
based in part on Lasswell’s (1964) classic question: Who says what to
whom, when, and how? First, a communication typically has some source.
The source can be expert or not, attractive or not, male or female, an indi-
vidual or group, and so on. This source provides some information, the
message, and this message can be emotional or logical, long or short, orga-
nized or not, directed at a specific or a general belief, and so forth. The
message is presented to a particular recipient who may be high or low in
intelligence, knowledge, experience, in a good or bad mood, and so on.
The message is presented via some channel of communication. Different
media allow different types of input such as audio only (e.g., radio), audio
plus moving visual (television, Internet), print only, or print plus static
visual (e.g., magazines, newspapers). Some media allow presentation of