Propaganda and Persuasion

Chapter 1 What Is Propaganda, and How Does It Differ From Persuasion?

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behavioral patterns when they are performed repeatedly over a long period of time. Patterns in past behaviors or habits are fair predictors of future behaviors. In other words, they become "scripts" for behavior in similar situations. When a similar situation is encountered, carrying out the same behavior does not require a great deal of consciousness (Roloff & Miller, 1980, p. 50). Robert Coles's book The Political Life of Children (1986), which is about how children learn about political loyalties from language, religion, and family, tells, for example, about the children of war-torn Northern Ireland. The Protestant children believe that God is on their side, and Coles relates how their parents sang "God Save the Queen" to them while rocking them to sleep in the nursery. A propagandist or persuader will have difficulty changing behavior if the audience already has habits to the contrary. This is especially true when a habitual behavior is triggered by emotion (Triandis, 1977, p. 25). The point is that behavioral change is not easy to bring about. Both persuaders and propagandists are well aware of this and actively seek information regarding variables related to behavioral change and predictors of behavior. Thus, we have seen how propaganda is a form of communication and how it uses both informative and persuasive communication concepts to promote its own objectives by controlling the flow of information, managing public opinion, and manipulating behavioral patterns. Propaganda is a subset of both information and persuasion. Sharing techniques with information and persuasion but going beyond their aims, propaganda does not seek mutual understanding or mutual fulfillment of needs. Propaganda deliberately and systematically seeks to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist. Overview of the Book The modern study of propaganda came about after World War I and, inter estingly, led the way to the social scientific study of persuasion. At the same time, as Doob (1966) pointed out, the word propaganda became less used and was replaced by words such as communication, information, and per suasion because they imply no value judgment and tend to embrace the development of new communication technologies as well as the "intricate perplexities inherent in developing societies and international diplomacy" (p. vi). The historical development of propaganda and the developing media and audiences are the subjects of Chapters 2 and 3. Chapter 4 reviews the theories and research regarding persuasion and propaganda. Chapter 5 examines