Ten pages Paper
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Foundations of Communication 3. Psychology and sociopsychology approachesS
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Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC Professor of Public Communication
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57022 Foundations of Communication
Recap from Week 2
Rhetoric was one of the first traditions of communication. Starting in ancient Greece, evolved to include contemporary use
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evolved to include contemporary use Focus on the rhetor as skilled in persuasion
Little focus on audiences, society, culture, etc
Growth of science saw a ‘scientific’ view of human communication – Shannon & Weaver’s information model and growth of cybernetics Brought a disciplined view to communication
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
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Evolved to embrace bio and neuro systems and networks, some elements of psychology and social networks
But largely ignores human cognition and socio-cultural influences
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Traditions of Communication Theory
Rhetorical – the art of speaking and persuasion Systems/cybernetic – information transmission
including feedback loops noise networks
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including feedback loops, noise, networks Sociopsychological – individual cognition,
behaviour and information processing Semiotic – signs and symbols making meaning Phenomenological – experience interpreted Sociocultural – social interaction, context, the
social construction of reality
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D social construction of reality Critical – power, domination, hegemony
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Video: Chris Cunningham. Music: Bjork
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjAoBKagWQA
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Psychology
Focus on the individual – largely internal Sees the individual human mind as the locus for
processing and understanding information
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processing and understanding information
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Psychology
A ‘social science’ Grounded in Modernism, ‘scientific approach’
Freud (psychoanalysis) and Freudian thought
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Freud (psychoanalysis) and Freudian thought The unconscious
Instinctual impulses
Also draws on studies of Human needs (Maslow 1943, 1954)
Experiments in stimulus-response
B li f h bj i i i l h
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D Belief that objective empirical research can understand and even predict human behaviour
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Social psychology
“Study of behaviour in social contexts” (Craig & Muller 2007, p. 313)
Origin – experimental social psychology in early
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Origin – experimental social psychology in early 20th century
Aim to develop a “science of communication” Two branches or ‘schools’ of thought
Psychological – individual standpoint
Sociological – society standpoint
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Key focus of sociopsychology
Information processing Learning and
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Persuasion for Attitude change and Behavioural effects
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
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Communication relevance
Extensively applied in advertising Behavioural psychologist, J. B. Watson, appointed VP
of J. Walter Thompson in the US in 1922
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JWT employed two psychologists in Australia in 1927 Sociopsychological approaches to analysing and
segmenting audiences influenced advertising for the next 75 years (Balnaves, Donald & Shoesmith 2009, p. 276).
Foundation of many government education campaigns (eg. health)
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D Used by social scientists concerned about media effects Violence Pornography Education
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Sociopsychological tradition
Three main branches:
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1. Behavioural – stimuli response to learn, behave
2. Cognitive – how humans process information, think
3. Biological – brain function, neurochemistry, psychobiology
(Littlejohn & Foss 2008 (p. 43)
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(Littlejohn & Foss 2008 (p. 43)
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Key theories of sociopsychology
Trait theory – psychological predispositions Trait factor models
Genetic predisposition
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Genetic predisposition
Extraversion, neuroticism
Cognition and information processing Attribution Theory (Fritz Heider)
Social Judgement Theory (Muzafer Sherif)
Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Leon Festinger)
Elaboration Likelihood Theory (Petty & Cacioppo)
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D Elaboration Likelihood Theory (Petty & Cacioppo)
Part II, Chapter 4 Littlejohn & Foss 2008 (pp. 66-74)
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Core concepts
Schema / schemata (pl.) Mental schemata – categories for grouping
information mental templates
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information, mental templates (Wrench, McCroskey & Richmond 2008, p. 130-3)
Relational schemata (Littlejohn & Foss, p. 199)
Constructs – constructivism (Jesse Delia 1982) Humans construct conceptual categories and ‘ways of
seeing’
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
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ConstructIVISM ConstructIONISM
Often used interchangeably and seen by some as the same. But others cite some distinct differences.
Psychological theory of k l d
Sociological theory of k l d
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knowledge knowledge
Individual meaning making in a social context
Humans construct ‘reality’ through social interaction Social Construction of Reality (Peter Berger & Thomas Luckmann 1966)
Internal constructs to learn and understand (categorising)
External world/realities are socially constructed
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Applied largely to education and learning – two streams: Jean Piaget’s constructivist learning Seymour Papert’s constructionist learning?
Gender, family, work ethic, etc are social constructions Links to phenomenology (interpretation)
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Attribution theory
Why we and others do things Heider saw human behaviour attributed to a
range of factors and “perceptual styles”:
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range of factors and “perceptual styles”: Situational Personal effects / influence Ability Effort Desire Sentiment (feeling like it)
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( g ) Belonging Obligation Permission
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Attribution theory
We make quick personal judgements on causes of behaviour: “I couldn’t help it” (situational)
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I couldn t help it (situational)
“He/she made me do it” (influence)
“I felt I had to” (obligation, influence)
“It seemed to be the thing to do” (obligation)
“I just wanted to fit in – I went along” (belonging)
“I can’t do that” (permission)
“I’m not good at that” (ability)
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“I really wanted to” (desire)
“I did my best” (effort, ability)
Not always conscious or logical “I don’t know why I did that.”
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Attribution theory
In judging others – he/she … Is just plain lazy
Doesn’t care
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Doesn t care
It’s easy for her/him
They were just lucky
In judging communication … I’m a good driver
I can hold my drink
I’m not overweight – I’m just big-boned
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ot o e e g t just b g bo ed
I can’t help my weight – it’s my glands
The journalist is just biased
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Fundamental attribution error
Type of Situation
Considering ourselves
Considering others
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Positive outcome Attribute to personal qualities
Attribute to situation / circumstances
Negative outcome Attribute to situation/ circumstances
Attribute to personal qualitities
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Attribution theory
Initial judgements (attributed causes) are often Illogical
Biased
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Biased
Don’t weigh all factors
Follow schemata
Hard to dislodge
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Social judgement theory
How we make judgements about what we hear and don’t experience personally (Sherif 1961)
Use reference points something you know to
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Use reference points, something you know to be true – Sherif calls them “anchors” Trusted sources
Track record
Prior experiences
Are brands ‘anchors’?
Also ego involvement is key does it affect me
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D Also ego involvement is key – does it affect me
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger 1957) “The distressing mental state in which people find
themselves doing things which don’t fit with what they
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themselves doing things which don t fit with what they know, or having opinions that don’t fit with other opinions they hold”
A basic need is to avoid dissonance – we strive for consonance, consistency, congruity
Communication theories based on this: Heider’s Balance Theory (1946)
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y ( )
Newcomb’s Symmetry Model (1953)
Osgood’s Congruity Theory (1957)
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
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Cognitive dissonance
Joseph Klapper (1960) found reinforcement of existing attitudes the most common outcome of communication
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communication Examples of dissonance
Give up smoking v put on weight
Post-decision dissonance after ‘close call’ decisions or major purchases (eg. new house, car, job)
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Dealing with cognitive dissonance
Humans always seek consonance When confronted with dissonance, humans:
Ch ttit d b h i t t h t
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Change attitude or behaviour to match new contrary information, OR
Try to ignore new information (flight)
Interpret new information to support existing attitudes or behaviour (fight)
Cognitive dissonance can be a: Blockage to communication OR
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D Blockage to communication, OR
A technique to use (e.g. to jolt others into change)
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Elaboration Likelihood Theory
Petty and Cacioppo (1986) saw two routes of information processing Central route (active information processing/cognition)
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( p g g ) Peripheral route (passive)
Central processing “the extent to which a person carefully thinks about
issue-relevant information” – i.e. elaborately/in detail
Peripheral processing Simple instinctive thinking based on schemata,
heuristics and other mental shortcuts
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Elaboration likelihood = the probability that someone will evaluate and process information elaborately (thinking deeply about it)
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Heuristics – mental shortcuts
Credibility/authority (e.g. source credibility) Liking
Att ti l f i d t
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Attractive people, friends, etc
Consensus – trust in the majority “Everyone’s says ... doing ... ”
Habit Voting party ticket Astrology!
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st o ogy
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Heuristic Systematic Theory
Also a two-route cognitive processing approach Systematic analytical consideration, OR
Heuristic processing relying on heuristics
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Heuristic processing relying on heuristics
Key heuristics Source credibility
Liking
Consensus
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Elaboration Likelihood Theory
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Sociopsychology and messages
Action-assembly theory How we organise knowledge to form messages
Strategy choice models
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Strategy choice models Message design models Semantic meaning theory
Part II, Chapter 5 Littlejohn & Foss 2008 (pp. 119-132)
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Sociopsychology and conversations
Managing uncertainty and anxiety Uncertainty reduction theory (Berger et al.)
Anxiety uncertainty management
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Anxiety-uncertainty management
Accommodation and adaption Accommodation theory
Interaction-adaption theory
Expectancy –violations theory
Interpersonal deception theory
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Part II, Chapter 6 Littlejohn & Foss 2008 (pp. 149-159)
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Information processing
W. J. McGuire (1984) developed a multi- stepped model of communication Six stages initially
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Six stages initially
Presentation Attention Comprehension Acceptance Retention Change/Action
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
McGuire’s 13 stages of communication
Exposure Attention Liking
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Comprehension Cognition Acquiring skills/knowledge Attitude change Storing information (retention) Retrieving information Deciding to act in accordance with information
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Deciding to act in accordance with information Action / behaviour Cognitive integration of behaviour Encouraging others to behave similarly (McGuire 2001)
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Sociopsychological approach
Framed by both early scientific thinking and emerging ‘social sciences’ Modernism late 19th and early 20th century
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Modernism – late 19th and early 20th century
Continuation of the Enlightenment project
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57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Problematising this approach?
Usefully focuses on human traits, predispositions, cognitive processes, etc
Reveals hidden internal factors influencing
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Reveals hidden internal factors influencing communication
But largely ignores: The persuasive power of rhetoric through “artful
symbolism”, emotion, credibility, etc Language and signs (text and visual) Experience (other than briefly looking at how past
experience shapes attitudes)
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D experience shapes attitudes) Structural issues – eg. institutions, systems of power Broader social and cultural influences
• “Excessive individualism, inattention to macro-social forces (Craig & Muller 2007, p. 84)
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
3/8/2012
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Problematising this approach
Early psychology and social psychology approaches accused of “mechanistic determinism” – e.g. B. F. Skinner
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g Saw the human mind as a machine
“Like behaviourists, most cognitive psychologists believe that the fundamental laws of the physical world determine human behaviour completely” (Barsalou 1992) Rely on ‘scientific’ largely positivist research
Bargh (1997) updated mechanistic determinism
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D Bargh (1997) updated mechanistic determinism saying that social psychology included situational factors – but still saw ‘automatic’ processes governing human thinking
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
TV commercial – approach?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1EG10yWv6A
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TV commercial – approach?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibAe8ArmvwY
References Balnaves, M. Donald, S. & Shoesmith, B. 2009, Media Theories and
Approaches: A Global Perspective, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK. Bargh, J. 1997, ‘The automaticity of everyday life’, in R. Wyer (ed.),
Advances in Social Cognition, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 1-61.
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Barsalou, L. 1992, Cognitive Psychology: An Overview for Cognitive Scientists, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Chaiken, S. Liberman, A. & Eagly, A. 1989, ‘Heuristic and systematic information within the beyond the persuasion context’, in J. Uleman & J. Bargh (eds), Unintended Thought, Guildford Press, New York, pp. 212- 52.
Craig, R. & Muller, H. (eds) 2007, Theorising Communication: Readings Across Traditions, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Delia, J. O’Keefe, B. & O’Keefe, D. 1982,’’The constructivist approach to communication’, in F. Dance (ed.), Human Communication Theory:
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communication , in F. Dance (ed.), Human Communication Theory: Comparative Essays, Harper & Row, New York, pp. 147-91.
Festinger, L. 1957, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Stanford University Press, Standford, CA.
Heider, F. 1946, xxx Klapper, J. 1960, The Effects of Mass Communication, Free Press, New
York.
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
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References Littlejohn, S. & Foss, K. 2008, Theories of Human Communciation (9th edn),
Thomson-Wadsworth, Belmont, CA. Maslow, A. 1943, ‘A theory of human motivation’, Psychological Review
50(4), pp. 370-96. Maslow A 1954 Motivation and Personality Harper New York
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Maslow, A. 1954, Motivation and Personality, Harper, New York. McGuire, W. 1984, ‘Attitudes and attitude change’, in G. Lindzey, L. Gardner
& E. Aronson, The Handbook of Social Psychology Vol II, 3rd edn, Random House, New York.
McGuire, W. 2001. ‘Input and output variables currently promising for constructing persuasive communications’, in R. Rice & C. Atkin (eds), Public communication campaigns, 3rd edn, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA pp. 22-48.
Petty, R. & Cacioppo, J. 1986, Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change Springer-Verlag New York
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D Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change, Springer Verlag, New York. Severin, J. & Tankard, J. 2001, Communication Theories: Origins, Methods,
and Uses in the Mass Media, Addison Wesley Longman, New York. Wrench, J. McCroskey, J. & Richmond, V. 2008, Human Communication in
Everyday Life, Pearson Education, Boston, MA.
57022 – Foundations of Communication Professor Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC