COM 353 Exam 2

Environmental campaigns

"External", "Large", and remote; "Product" (environmentally friendly behaviors) perceived to have economic consequences; Multiple stakeholder audiences

Campaign Audiences

1. Nonelection political campaigns include ideological and propaganda campaigns aimed at persuading legislators (rather than voters) to achieve favorable political outcomes (lobbying also) 2. voters 3. candidates 4. contributors 5. media 6. international in some cases

Unique properties of political campaigns

1. Time-period, have well defined time periods 2. Cyclical interest, There may be heightened sensitivity to political messages during political seasons; on the contrary, audiences may also be more psychologically prepared to defend themselves from the onslaught of political messages through mechanisms such as selective attention, perception, and inoculation

Message-based persuasion

Attempts to influence behavior by changing attitudes; Theories: 1. Information processing model 2. Cognitive-response theory 3. Elaboration-likelihood model (ELM)

Evaluative research

Conducted after a campaign ends; Assess the effectiveness of the campaign

Formative research

Conducted before a campaign begins; Serves as a barometer for setting up elements of a campaign

ICTs and Public Relations (information and communication technologies)

Digital public relations; Interactive online-communication; World wide web

Evaluation research

Evaluating the activities of your department is the only way to prove your worth; Stages: 1. Specify measurable objectives for your department and campaigns 2. Measure whether you have met your objectives 3. Collect and analyze data to measure the effect of you communication 4. Report the results to decision makers, brianstorm why you succeeded or failed in meeting your objectives 5. Apply results to decisions: evaluation is worthless unless the results are put to use

Political Campaigns

For the public at large, the term "campaign" usually denotes political campaigns; Election campaigns are coordinated efforts to win an election through the mobilization of human, social, and material resources;

Behavior-based persuasion

Influencing attitudes through temporary behavioral changes leading to permanent behavioral changes; Recipients are induced to behave first, with hope of influencing attitudes that might result in long term behavior (B1-A-B2); Theories: 1. Social-learning theory 2. Self-perception theory 3. Cognitive dissonance theory

Health campaigns

Internal "small" and personal; "Product" (health behaviors) not perceived to have economic consequences; Two primary audiences (clients and providers)

Cognitive-response theory

It provides on analysis of the process by which people elaborate upon persuasive messages; If a communication activity generates more +ve than -ve thoughts, persuasion is more likely to occur

Information processing model

It suggests that persuasive communication occurs in a series of stages: exposure, attention, comprehension, retention of the message, yielding (attitudinal change), behavior change; one- vs. two-way communication, message repetition, etc.

Privacy Issues

Modern cellphones as a category implicate privacy concerns far beyond those implicated by the search of cigarette pack, a wallet, or a purse...we cannot deny that our decision today will have an impact on the ability of law enforcement to combat crime..."privacy comes at a cost"; Public relations scholarship has been largely silent on privacy issues and their nexus with what we do as communicators

Social-learning theory

States that humans imitate behaviors of models (opinion leaders); authority figures, Celebrity endorsements, etc.

Elaboration-likelihood model (ELM)

Suggests that there are two routes to persuasion: central and peripheral; Higher (central) level of elaboration on messages occurs when the issue or communication has personal relevance to recipients; Low (peripheral) elaboration likelihood occurs when there is low personal relevance and low need for cognitions

Self-perception theory

The above "heuristic rules" can only induce one-time rather than repeated behaviors; Self-perception theory suggests that individuals infer their attitudes by observing their own behavior borne of free-will; eg. get someone to donate $1 to cause initially

Entertainment education (enter-educate, edutainment, infotainment)

The term became popular (1967-1968), Miguel Sabido from Mexico he used telenovelas for education; Purpose of entertainment-education is to contribute to social change; Influencing audience awareness, attitudes, and behaviors toward a socially desirable end (change at the individual level); seeks to change behavior; works because it educates and entertains at the same time; Sesame Street

Cognitive dissonance theory

When behavior contradicts one's worldviews, cognitive dissonance (state of tension) occurs; We relieve dissonance in one of two ways: 1. Increase the number of consistent cognitions of ten by rationalizing (seeking semi-logical conclusions to refute inconsistent cognitions) 2. Decrease the number of inconsistent cognitions

Quantitative methods

evaluation method; More objective producing data that are easy to analyze; Mail, survey, or telephone questionnaire

Qualitative methods

evaluation method; Provide more detail and context but are subjective and often cost more; In depth interviews and focus groups and ethnography

Public relations audit

type of PR research; Defines publics and how they perceive and understand the organization

Environmental monitoring

type of PR research; Detects trends in organization's social and political environment

Social audit

type of PR research; Determines organization's impact on its environment

Communication audit

type of PR research; Evaluates the reception and comprehension of messages