Persuasion And Social Influence In Why We Fight

Carl Hovland, a social psychologist at Yale University conducted breakthrough research regarding persuasion and social influence. During World War II, Hovland was approached by the United States Army to study the morale of the soldiers preparing to go off and fight. The nation’s president at the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was concerned that the soldiers were going to lose the fight with Japan after having just defeated the German Nazis. The War Department hired Frank Capra, from Fox and Disney studios, to create a series of films called Why We Fight. For the next three years, Hovland spent time in Washington D.C. studying the effect that these films had on soldier morale. Hovland found that the films did help the men understand the facts surrounding the involvement in the war; however, the videos did not help motivate the soldiers to fight. (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014) After the end of the war, Holvand returned to Yale and was given a grant to continue his research on persuasion and communication. It was Aristotle who said that ethos (charisma), logos (intellectual appeal), and pathos (emotional appeal) are necessary …show more content…
Hovland, along with a few colleagues, found that well educated people are much more responsive to arguments which are based on logic and reason. He based his persuasive research on the learning theory, which focused on the link between the stimulus and the response. Hovland hypothesized that a frightening message would induce fear in the subject and then cause them to have an attitude change. Their attitude change would serve as the reinforcement as it should reduce their fear. After conducting their research, Hovland’s colleagues found that a frightening delivery of a message can have a very negative effect on the audience. They may become defensive, therefore tuning out the very message they are supposed to be receiving. In conclusion, the fear approach often