Propaganda and Persuasion

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Propaganda and Persuasion

Personal values are derived from cultural values that tend to be utopian, mythic, and pragmatic. For example, many people share a national vision that embraces the belief in popular participation of people in government, in the right to say what you think without restriction, and in good conquering evil. A West European research organization, Futuribles, through a grant from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), conducted a study of 1,125 experts throughout the world to predict their countries' core values for the year 2000. The experts from North America, primarily the United States, predicted that the top-ranked values would include possession of material wealth, health, jobs and work, individual liberty, and social equality. In contrast, the experts from Latin American countries predicted survival as the top priority, whereas African experts feared the loss of liberty. Schwartz and Bilsky (1987) surveyed sub jects from Israel and Germany and found seven dominant motivational values: enjoyment, achievement, restrictive conformity, security, prosocial (active concern for the welfare of others), maturity, and self-direction. When situations arise that pose a conflict between national and personal values, people often find it difficult to adapt. A nation's decision to go to war to protect economic assets creates conflict for the people whose children may die in battle. People regard their values as very personal and get quite upset when these are attacked; thus, the values make strong anchors for both persuasion and propaganda. Attitudes An attitude is a readiness to respond to an idea, an object, or a course of action. It is an internal state of feeling toward, or an evaluative response to, an idea, person, or object. It is expressed in a statement that clarifies a position ("I like milk in my coffee" or "I disagree with mining in pristine wilderness areas"). An attitude is a relatively enduring predisposition to respond; therefore, it already resides in the minds of audience members and can be used as an anchor. As people form beliefs about an object, idea, or person, they automatically and simultaneously acquire attitudes toward it. Whereas each belief is an association of an attribute with an object, an attitude is essentially an attribute evaluation. Attitude change is often the desired response in persuasion; thus, attitudes may be used as anchors ("If you prefer to be physically fit, then you should exercise regularly") or as persuasive end states ("Patients should be allowed to sue health maintenance organizations"). People have thousands of attitudes— some important, others inconsequential. A persuader and a propagandist can use strongly held attitudes as anchors to promote related attitude change.