This study (N = 143) examined the effects of freedom threat on cognitive structures, using recycling as its topic. The results of a 2(Freedom Threat: low vs. high) x 2(Postscript: restoration vs. filler) plus 1(Control) experiment indicated that, relative to the control condition, high freedom threat created a boomerang effect for the targeted…

The magnitude of the effect television has on young people's lives makes it an important source of drug abuse information, but there is a question as to whether or not such information is persuasive. Some studies indicate that viewer response to anti-drug television commercials falls into four judgmental dimensions: relevant persuasion, negative…

Personal satisfaction or enjoyment can be obtained from participation in the persuasive or informative processes of public discourse, partially because both are serious methods of attaining socially useful goals. The public speaker is challenged by the opportunity to raise his audience's level of information about a subject and to influence their…

Theories of mass communication have sought to explain how the media function internally and affect society. Rather than additional "response" studies, which investigate the impact of media on behavior or a society's impact on its media, more research should center on the functions of mass media within the overall framework of communication theory.…

The author reports a study conducted to explore the role of mass media in creating source commitment, which he defines as a type of public commitment to content of a message produced under conditions in which a person encodes a message for others. The major hypothesis predicted that greater commitment would be produced within persons who encoded…