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One hundred thirty-five undergraduate students were queried at North Texas State University. Perceptions of self-disclosure as a compliance-gaining tactic were surveyed. A fifteen item questionnaire was utilized. Fourteen questions were tested by an analysis of variance. One question was tested by chi-square. Data indicated that self-disclosure was viewed as an effective compliance-gaining tactic for both males and females; but females were perceived as more effective than males utilizing the tactic. Self-disclosure utilized as a compliance-gaining tactic was perceived as appropriate by both males and females. Results indicated females and males have similar perceptions regarding the appropriateness of utilizing the self-disclosure tactic. Male and female raters did not differ significantly from each other.

To determine the influence of television commercials about toys and cereals on young children, forty-four children, ranging in age from four to seven years, were interviewed. The mothers of these children completed a questionnaire about their children's television viewing habits. The hypotheses examined the following areas: children's demands for advertised products, children's preferences and dislikes for commercials, the extent of parental yielding to children's requests, and parental discussion of television commercials. The data were analyzed by computing percentages, and it revealed several trends. The more television children watched, the more they demanded advertised products. Parents' discussion of television advertisements affected the extent of parental yielding and the extent of children's demand for advertised products. This study supports findings reported in the related literature that television commercials affect young children's behavior.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of news commentary on the image of political candidates. Subjects were exposed to a political debate, which was followed by three experimental manipulations of a news commentary. One group saw a commentary biased toward one candidate and against the other. In a second group the bias was reversed. A third experimental group saw a neutral commentary and the control group viewed the debate but no commentary. The primary statistical analyses used were a multivariate analysis of variance, a multiple discriminant analysis and a factor analysis. The results indicated that the commentary did have some effects on the perception of the candidates' images. Furthermore, the commentaries affected the amount of the candidates' message which was recalled by the subjects, and cued the subjects to recall specific issues which were mentioned in the commentaries. Finally, the factor analysis indicated certain characteristics of the images of political candidates.

This study begins to fill the gap in sociological literature on movements and countermovements by exploring the dynamic environment of two movement organizations. After documenting the climate of public opinion on abortion, it investigates the strategy and tactics employed by a movement to maintain that opinion and a countermovement to reverse that opinion. It relates social movements to their social environments, social change, opposition, and strategy and tactics. It illustrates the efficacy of single-issue groups in the American social and political environment. Finally, this thesis demonstrates the validity of exploratory studies by uncovering elements of social movements and countermovements that had not been previously investigated.

By exploring classical and contemporary conceptions of rhetorical ethos, this thesis assembles theories of analysis and then applies them in the form of rhetorical analysis of the rhetorical ethos exhibited by President George W. Bush in his presidential speeches. The theoretical investigation reveals the extensive use of the ethical appeal in all manner of rhetorical situations in the contemporary world but especially focuses on how political rhetoric has come to rely predominantly on this persuasive appeal. The study examines several speeches given by President Bush and concludes that his success as president is attributed largely to the sophisticated rhetorical strategies executed by his administration, especially its construction of a presidential ethos. However, the inquiry also reveals a disconcerting degree of misleading and deceptive rhetoric, which the author argues has resulted in a serious decline in public support for President Bush as he approaches his sixth year in office.

The current project involved three studies designed to examine which characteristics of persuasive communications change condom use attitudes. Study 1 investigated the effect of message type (affective versus cognitive) and source (male versus female) on attitude change among a sample of African American women attending college. In Study 1 (N = 146), the affective message and female source produced the most positive change in condom use attitudes. Study 2 examined whether message type and source were associated with favorable condom attitudes in a community sample and whether these findings differed from a college sample. Twenty-seven women participated in group discussions and completed measures of attitudes and intentions. Similar to Study 1, the pattern of means in Study 2 showed the affective message delivered by the female source resulted in the most positive condom use attitude change. These results were not significant likely due to the small sample. Focus groups were also conducted to better understand the types of condom use messages African American women find effective. Several themes emerged: condom used primarily for pregnancy prevention; negative condom use attitudes; communicating messages through internet, TV, and radio; creating fun, catchy, and informative messages; using celebrities and peers to deliver messages; and increasing the frequency of messages to equal importance of topic. The third study assessed the effectiveness of an attitude change pilot intervention that was based on the results of Studies 1 and 2. The study used a 2 (intervention vs. control) X 3 (pretest, posttest, follow-up) mixed factorial design to examine whether women’s attitudes changed after a pilot session and whether the change persisted over time. African American women (N = 115) were recruited through Craigslist and community agencies. There were no significant differences across time for the intervention and the control group. Reasons for the lack of an effect in Study 3 are discussed. Taken together, these studies provide evidence that, under certain conditions an affective message delivered by a female source can change attitudes toward using condoms. The results of these studies could potentially enhance existing interventions by renewing a focus on changing attitudes as well as behavior.

Four studies investigated the effects of attitude extremity and political ideology on the degree and direction of changes in issue attitudes following the presentation of mixed evidence. Based upon previous work, it was predicted that those holding relatively more extreme attitudes would resist changing those views when presented with a mixture of supporting and opposing statements and would potentially adopt more extreme evaluative positions – a phenomenon known as attitude polarization (Lord, Ross, & Lepper, 1979). Evaluative entrenchment or intensification was also expected among more politically conservative participants, based upon prior work describing cognitive rigidity and resistance to change as more characteristic of the political right than left (e.g., Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003). An interaction of attitude extremity and political ideology was also hypothesized, such that liberal individuals with moderate attitudes were expected to demonstrate the least propensity to polarize. Participants’ attitudes regarding abortion rights (Study 1), gun control (Study 2), tax increases (Study 3), and environmental preservation (Study 4) were assessed before and after reading statements that both opposed and supported the issue. Political ideology was also assessed, along with several individual difference factors. Across all four studies, attitude extremity significantly predicted evaluative change, although the pattern of that effect varied. Political ideology did not emerge consistently as a predictor of attitude change; however, significant interactive effects of extremity and ideology were found. In addition, several individual difference factors (i.e., gender, need for cognition, issue importance) were found to moderate the effects of the primary predictors on attitude change, and some divergent result patterns were found when comparing data from a college and non-college sample in Study 4. Taken together, these studies provide evidence that attitude extremity and political ideology influence the degree and direction of evaluative change following the presentation of mixed evidence. In addition, they identify other factors at work in effecting change versus resistance, thereby highlighting the multi-faceted and complex nature of persuasion in a political context.

Two studies were conducted to investigate how the use of different types of language affects attitudes. Participants scrutinized arguments supporting a hypothetical toothpaste that differed in terms of argument strength (strong versus weak) and linguistic abstractness (abstract versus concrete) and subsequently evaluated the toothpaste. In addition, half of the participants in the second study were subjected to a cognitive load manipulation (i.e., rehearsing a ten-digit number) in order to limit their level of cognitive elaboration. Results indicated that strong arguments and those containing concrete descriptions led to more positive attitudes about the toothpaste, whereas weak messages comprised of abstract terms gave rise to the least favorable evaluations. These findings represent the first demonstration of the effect of language type on attitudes and suggest that future research into the functions of differential linguistic abstractness in a persuasive context will broaden our understanding of attitude change.

Diploma thesis "Work with emotions in television commercials" deals with the role of emotions in the persuasion processes of television commercials. The introductory part addresses the general characteristics of advertising with the focus on specifics of television commercials. Second chapter deals with the way, in which advertising messages influence their audience, and the factors which determine this influence. The following part focuses on the role of emotions in the commercial persuasion processes. It also involves a brief excursion into the history of use of emotions in advertising. Fourth chapter is in a way an extension of the previous chapter, because it deals with the role of emotions as one of the sources of consumer's purchase motivation. What follows, is the theoretical part devoted to the work with emotions in television commercials. It is divided into two chapters. First one deals with the way, in which commercial creators use the emotions, and which commercial models do they apply. The second one describes their work with particular emotional appeals, such as visual and acoustic effects, fear, humour, sexuality, or the presence of children. The closing part is the practical research itself. It contains the analyses of specific television commercial spots, based on the previous theoretical...