Cognitive level - environmental cognitive function

Psychological and Attitudinal Levels—Value Formation and Normative Functions

Action level - social demonstration function

It is a type of communication effect proposed by British scholar P. Golding based on time and intention. It mainly includes:

(1) Short-term expected effects (personal reactions, reactions to media intensive publicity and reporting activities);

(2) Short-term unintended effects (regardless of the intention of the communicator, individual spontaneous reactions and collective conscious reactions, beneficial or harmful);

(3) Long-term expected effect (the cumulative effect produced by long-term information dissemination on a certain topic or cause that is consistent with the communicator’s intention. The dissemination, promotion and popularization of knowledge, etc.);

(4) Long-term unintended effects (the comprehensive or objective effects produced by the daily and lasting communication activities of the entire communication industry, personal socialization, social control of the media, media and social change).

From the 1920s to the 1940s, the "magic bullet theory" was also known as the "gun bullet theory", "hypodermic injection theory" and "stimulus-response theory". This theory believes that audience members are isolated people and that communication media possess irresistible power. The information they convey can have an immediate effect on the audience just like a bullet hitting the body or a medicine injected into the skin. People's attitudes, opinions, and even their behavior can be controlled

Classic studies of this period include: Lasswell’s propaganda research on the two world wars, the Penn Foundation research on movies and children, and the “Martian Invasion” research.

The bullet theory over-exaggerates the power and influence of mass communication, ignores various objective social factors that affect communication effects, and denies the audience's active choice and ability to use mass media. An oversimplified description of the communication process: on one side there is an all-powerful medium sending the message; on the other side there is a dispersed public waiting to receive it, with nothing else in between.

Communication flow refers to the social process in which information starting from mass media "flows" to the communication target through various intermediate links. "Communication flow" can be divided into "information flow" and "influence flow". The former can be one-level, that is, media information can directly reach the general audience; the latter is multi-level, that is, the influence of the media needs to go through various opinion leaders Only through intermediaries can it have an effect on the general audience.

Communication flow research emphasizes the role of interpersonal communication in the mass communication process, reveals many restrictive factors in the formation of communication effects, and plays an important role in negating the early "magic bullet theory" view of communication.

"The People's Choice" by Lazarsfeld et al., "Personal Influence" by Katz et al., "Innovation and Popularization" by Rogers et al., and "Mass Communication Effects" by Clappa can be said to be "communication flow" research. tetralogy.

In 1960, Clappa systematically summarized the research on "communication flow" since "People's Choice" and "Personal Influence" in his book "The Effect of Mass Communication", strongly emphasizing the powerlessness and limited effect of mass communication. nature, so it is called "limited effect theory".

This theory holds that: mass communication can only work through many intermediary factors; the most obvious tendency of mass communication is to strengthen the audience's existing attitudes, rather than change them; the production of communication effects needs to be affected by psychological and physiological factors, the conditions of the media itself, and public opinion Constrained by environmental and other factors; mass communication can only be effective when other intermediary factors do not work or when these factors themselves also promote attitude change.

Main research areas: First, the study of "communication flow"; second, the study of persuasive communication effects; third, the study of "uses and gratifications".

The limited effect theory played a positive role in correcting the early "magic bullet theory", but in a sense it underestimated the influence of communication and had certain limitations.

① On the three effect levels of cognition, attitude and action, limited effect theory only discusses the latter two, while ignoring the earlier cognitive stage;

② Only the microscopic and short-term effects of specific communication activities are examined, while the macroscopic, long-term and subtle effects produced by the daily and comprehensive information of the entire communication enterprise are ignored;

③ Overemphasis on the limited effect of mass communication will bring some negative effects to communication practice. Research on persuasive communication is mainly specific, short-term, and direct research on individual audiences. It has no influence on the power of communication to change audience attitudes. A conservative assessment was made.

Two-level communication theory is an important component of information flow theory and originated from "The People's Choice" in the 1940s. Lazarsfeld and others pointed out in the Erie survey that the transmission of information is a two-level process, that is, mass communication information needs to "flow" to the general audience through the intermediary of opinion leaders. The proposal of two-level communication is a powerful counterattack against the magic bullet theory. It changes the concept of omnipotent media influence and helps usher in the era of limited effects.

Impact: The two-level communication theory fundamentally shook the then-popular "magic bullet theory" and inspired a new way of researching effects, triggering more related research. Its significance lies in revealing the interpersonal influence in the mass communication process and emphasizing that the effect of mass communication is restricted by interpersonal communication.

Limitations: The two-level communication theory belongs to the limited effect theory and is a modification of the early powerful effect theory. However, the two-level communication theory also has certain flaws. First, most news reports are disseminated directly through the mass media rather than through opinion leaders; second, it is often difficult to distinguish opinion leaders from their followers, and more information is shared between them; third, the two-level communication theory implicitly believes that Mass media is the only information channel for opinion leaders. In fact, the sources of information are more diverse; fourth, the function of mass media is mainly to inform, while interpersonal communication is more effective in persuasion.

The formation of mass communication effects is restricted by many factors and conditions, but the most superior position in this process is undoubtedly the communicator as the main body of communication. The communicator not only controls the communication tools and means, but also determines the content of the information. Make choices and play an active role as the controller of the communication process.

①The credibility effect of the source

Credibility consists of two elements. The first is the credibility of the communicator, including whether it is honest, objective, fair and other characters; the second is professional authority, that is, whether the communicator has the right to speak and the qualifications to speak on specific issues. The two components the basis of credibility. Generally speaking, the higher the credibility of the source, the better the persuasive effect; the lower the credibility, the worse the persuasive effect. The concept of “credibility effect” explains that for communicators, establishing a good image and gaining the trust of the audience is a prerequisite for improving communication effects.

② "Sleep" effect

For information sent by low-credibility sources, due to the negative impact of the source's credibility, the persuasiveness of the content itself cannot be exerted immediately, and it is in a "sleeping" state. After a period of time, the negative impact of credibility weakens. or disappears before its effect can be fully manifested. This is the "sleep effect". Although this effect remains to be further studied and confirmed, it illustrates an important truth, that is, the credibility of the source has an extremely important impact on the short-term effect of the information, but in terms of the long-term effect, it ultimately plays a decisive role. It’s the persuasiveness of the content itself

Communication skills refer to the strategies and methods used in persuasive communication activities to effectively achieve the expected goals, including content prompting method, persuasion method and appeal method, etc.

①"One-sided prompt" and "Double-sided prompt"

②The "immunity" effect of "double-sided reminder"

③ "Express conclusions" and "Integrate opinions into materials"

④ "Appeal to reason" and "Appeal to emotion"

⑤Alarm bell effect (fear appeal)

The properties of propagated objects usually include the following aspects:

①The role of opinion leaders - key points to master

In communication science, people who are active in interpersonal communication networks, often provide information, opinions or suggestions to others and exert personal influence on others are called "opinion leaders". Opinion leaders have the following basic characteristics:

②The influence of group affiliation and group norms

There are two basic perspectives for examining the impact of groups on individual behavior.

③Personality of the receiver and communication effect

Persuadability

In effectiveness research in communication science, the personality tendency of being "easily" or "difficult" to accept persuasion from others is called an individual's "persuaability." According to the classification of Japanese communication scholar Hiroshi Hatato, persuasiveness includes the following aspects: