THEORY

P R E S E N TATI O N S

R I S H T YA K A K A R
P H P B - 6 1 2 : H E A LT H C O M M U N I C A T I O N C A M P A I G N S
SPHIS, UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE

OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATION
Agenda Setting
Historical overview of theory
Contemporary expansion of the theory
Key components of the theory
Example of application within public health

Communication-Persuasion Matrix
Overview of the theory
Key components of the theory
Example of application within public health

Review

AGENDA
SETTING
P R I M A RY T H E O R I S T S :
McCombs & Shaw (1972)

AGENDA SETTING:

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Walter Lippmann in Public Opinion, 1922
The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Head
Public opinion responds not to the environment but to the pseudoenvironment constructed by the news media (McCombs, 2013)

Bernard Cohen in The Press and Foreign Policy, 1963

[press] may not be successful much of the time in telling people what
to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think
about (McCombs, 2005)

Lang & Lang in The Mass Media and Voting, 1966

The mass media force attention to certain issues they are constantly
presenting objects suggesting what individuals in the mass should think
about, know about, have feelings about. (McCombs & Shaw, 1972)

The Agenda-Setting Function Of The

Mass Media
MCCOMBS & SHAW, 1972
While the mass media may
have little influence on the
direction or intensity of
attitudes, it is hypothesized
that the mass media set the
agenda for each political
campaign, influencing the
salience of attitudes
toward the political issues.

KEY COMPONENTS

AGENDA SETTING:

PUBLIC HEALTH APPLICATION

Many uses around the world; e.g. anti-smoking, shaping health
care reform.
Jones et al. (2006):
Role of agenda-setting in mass media role in encouraging positive
breast cancer screening behavior
Both the younger and middle-aged women who reported reading
a news magazine article about breast cancer also reported more
frequent breast screening, as compared to those who had not
read such an article.

C O M M U N I C ATI O N PERSUASION
M ATR I X
P R I M A RY T H E O R I S T:
William McGuire

COMMUNICATION-PERSUASION MATRIX:

THEORY OVERVIEW

Information Persuasion Model (IPM): 3 factors influence choice

External (e.g. cost)
Internal directive (e.g. attitudes, beliefs)
Internal dynamic (e.g. demographic)

McGuires Communication Persuasion Matrix (CPM): focuses on internal

factors
Communication inputs and persuasion outputs
Diagnostic checklist for campaign designers to determine persuasive
capability of campaign
Recommended for: mass media campaigns, wider audience, wider public
health issues
Criticism:
Sequential output steps

COMMUNICATION-PERSUASION MATRIX:

KEY COMPONENTS
Input Communication Variables
1. Source
credibility internalization
attractiveness identification
power compliance
source-audience similarity

2. Message
organization, appeal, style, repetitiveness, etc.

3. Channel
type of media, directness, context

4. Audience (Receiver)
demographics, personalities, abilities, lifestyle,
etc.

5. Destination (Target):
immediate vs. delayed; prevention vs.

Output Persuasion Process

Summary
Exposur
e
Processi
ng

Learning

Yielding

Behavio
r

COMMUNICATION-PERSUASION MATRIX:

PUBLIC HEALTH APPLICATION

Model and checklist for
developing communication
campaign
Bator & Cialdini (2000): The
application of persuasion theory to
the development of effective
proenvironmental public service
announcements.
Audience liking message vs.
being persuaded to change

REVIEW