Hovland-Yale Model Flashcards
Who proposed the Hovland Yale model and who was he?
Carl Hovland - a researcher at Yale
What are the 3 key factors that the Hovland-Yale model suggest affect that influences persuasion and attitude change?
- The source
- The message
- The audience
When considering the source, who is most likely to be the most persuasive, why and what did Baron and Byrne suggest about this?
Experts are more persuasive than non-experts. The audience believes that they are more knowledgeable and know what they’re talking about.
Barony and Byrne - this is why TV adverts put their experts in white coats - emphasises the scientific status of the message.
What study did INKSO carry out into the source of a message and what did they find? (Method, findings, 2 criticisms).
When asked students stated that 8 hours of sleep was needed to maintain a good health.
Found - when exposed to an expert and non-expert, they were most persuaded by expert, even when the opinion was drastically different to their own.
1. Students - can’t gen - low pop and ext val.
2. Demand characteristics - exposed to both who were giving different opinions.
What are 2 important qualities that make a source more persuasive, and why do these qualities make them more persuasive?
- Attractiveness
- Likability
Those who are attractive tend to be more well liked, and we tend to agree more with people that we like.
Aside from being an expert, what else did Baron and Byrne suggest that the source can do to be more persuasive?
Talk fast - those who talk faster are more likely to be more persuasive as they convey the message that they know what they are talking about.
What is one thing that can make the message more effective?
A two-sided balanced argument - these make the audience more resistant to later arguments that contradict the original message.
What study did McGuire carry out into the suggestion of a two-sided balanced argument being the most persuasive? (Method, findings).
Presented the arguments of tooth brushing after every meal.
1 group heard a message confirming their attitudes to tooth brushing, other group heard a 2-sided balanced argument. Two days later, both groups heard a message that contradicted their beliefs.
Found - those who had heard the 2-sided argument were more resistant to being persuaded by the contradictory argument.
How can fear affect the persuasiveness of a message?
Fear seems to be effective, if the message provides a simple way of coping w/ the fear, the audience will believe that the warnings will affect them.
What study did Lewis carry out that supported the notion of fear making a message more persuasive?
P’s watched 2 campaigns - 1 w/ fear, 1 w/ humour. P’s also completed 2 questionnaires - 1 assessed pre-exposure attitudes, 1 assessed post-exposure attitudes to drink driving.
Found - fear message more persuasive in short term, humour message more persuasive in long term.
How can repeated exposure to a message affect its persuasiveness?
Repeated exposure to a stimulus is a sufficient condition for the enhancement of attitude towards it. Given time and exposure to a message our attitude can change towards it, making it more persuasive.
What did Maguire state about the intelligence levels of the audience. and how do they affect the persuasiveness of a message?
Those w/ low intelligence levels are less likely to be persuaded as they are less likely to understand the message.
Those w/ high levels of intelligence are also less likely to be persuaded as they are more confident w/ their own opinions and will process the argument and reject the opposing view.
Those w/ average levels of intelligence are most likely to be persuaded.
How do levels of involvement affect persuasiveness, and what idea of the levels of involvement did Iguarta test? (Method, findings, what does this suggest).
Audiences w/ high involvement react differently to those w/ low involvement.
Iguarta - to overcome low involvement, the entertainment must be better. Used fictional stories to illustrate AIDS/HIV prevention.
Found - better quality entertainment = more cognitive processing = more favourable attitude.
Suggests low/high intelligence levels can be overcome if the context the message is delivered in is of high quality.
What are 2 criticisms of the Hovland-Yale model?
- Doesn’t explain why people’s attitudes change in response to persuasive messages only how the process works.
- Doesn’t detail or determine the importance of each factor.
What are X methodological issues with research into attitude changes and persuasiveness?
- Often measured using self-reports - social desirability bias, demand characteristics - low int val.
- Carried out in labs - p’s give complete, undivided attention - doesn’t happen in real life - not reflective of reality - low eco val.
