There are two main methods of forming and changing attitudes in the public consciousness - persuasion and suggestion . Today we will look at each of them.
Belief.
Belief - a method of influencing the consciousness of a person through an appeal to her own critical judgment. The method is based on selection, logical ordering of facts and conclusions in accordance with a single worldview concept of a particular person. It has been established that persuasion mainly achieves the strengthening of previously created attitudes. In order to persuade the media, they independently select and form the information disseminated in the society. From what information people receive, their subsequent actions largely depend. This is understandable, because the flow of information in the modern world is so diverse and contradictory that neither an individual, nor even a group of specialists are able to figure it out on their own. Therefore,
There are a large number of methods for disseminating information that can convince of the reliability of the information provided:
1) Fragmented presentation.
This technique creates a number of difficulties for listeners. The fragmentation of information, giving the appearance of its versatility and efficiency of presentation, prevents non-professionals, ie the vast majority of citizens, to form a holistic picture of political phenomena or events. It gives media workers additional opportunities to manipulate the audience, focusing its attention on some aspects of the event and keeping silent or obscuring some other aspects of it. For the same purposes, one-sided argumentation is used, when the point of view of only one opponent is shown, which is assigned the meaning of the only correct one. For example, in any military operation, the media acting on behalf of the attacker only provides the audience with information that justifies the operation and indicates the need for such intervention. In this case, other information is simply blocked and suppressed. This technique can be traced on the example of the information support of the US operation in Iraq, when the Western media broadcast information about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in the region. This presentation justified the need for the use of force. The fragmented presentation of information ultimately disorients listeners and either dampens their interest in politics and causes political apathy, or forces them to rely on the assessments of commentators. This presentation justified the need for the use of force. The fragmented presentation of information ultimately disorients listeners and either dampens their interest in politics and causes political apathy, or forces them to rely on the assessments of commentators. This presentation justified the need for the use of force.
2) Ritualization - showing official procedures, meetings, etc. easily accessible for the TV camera. This makes viewers feel the significance of what is happening, is a demonstration of the allegedly active actions of politicians, and as a result misleads the audience.
3) Personalization - focusing not on the meaning of events, but on their bearers - presidents, prime ministers, prominent politicians, etc.
Techniques of ritualization and personalization often lead television to the path of showing the external, superficial side of political phenomena. Essential relationships remain undisclosed. These techniques are mainly aimed at enhancing the image of politicians participating in these events.
4) Distracting attention from important information.
A persuasive influence containing strong and to some extent unacceptable arguments for a given audience turns out to be more effective if the audience's attention is somewhat distracted from the content of the transmitted information in order to deprive it of the opportunity to put forward counterarguments. For example, during the broadcast of controversial information, a plot is shown that is not related to its content and reduces the attention of the audience.
Suggestion.
A more effective influence on the masses in comparison with persuasion is exerted by the method of emotional influence, ie suggestion.
Suggestion (suggestion) is the process of influencing the human psyche, associated with a decrease in consciousness and criticality in the perception of information, with the absence of a detailed logical analysis and assessment. Suggestion is carried out with the aim of creating certain states in a person or people or encouraging them to take certain actions. The essence consists in influencing the feelings of a person, and through them - on his mind and will. Content, assimilated through the mechanism of suggestion, in the future is inherent in an obsessive nature: it is difficult to comprehend and correct, representing a set of "suggested attitudes".
Suggestion is the only possible way of conveying ideas that cannot be proved using logical arguments or seem absurd from the point of view of common sense. The word and the visual image have a great power of emotional influence on a person, which can overshadow rational arguments and arguments. By saturating its programs with emotional content that suppresses the human mind, television can have a decisive influence on the political behavior of citizens. This ability is especially often used during election campaigns, when the media supporting unpopular political forces, using vivid private facts or fakes, are trying to heat up the emotional atmosphere in society and block the rational choice of voters. Arguments that appeal to feelings reduce possible resistance. For example,
At present, the practice of mass media has accumulated a large arsenal of techniques that provide an impact on people's emotions. These techniques include:
1) Acceptance of "evidence".
This technique consists in bringing the statement of a person who is respected or hated in a given audience. These can be authoritative representatives of politics, culture, etc. For example, on December 24, the vice-president of the Higher School of Economics was invited to the TVC studio, who commented on the situation in the foreign exchange market, recommending that citizens not keep their savings with them in dollars, but entrust them to investment companies.
Reception of "evidence" contains an assessment of the presented idea, doer, thing, aimed at encouraging the audience to a certain attitude towards them (positive or negative). For example, if a person, towards whom the audience has an unambiguously negative attitude, approves of any actions or ideas, a negative attitude towards them will also form.
2) Reception of "sticking labels".
In this case, in order to compromise and reject people or ideas by listeners, a negative label is stuck on them, for example: "imperialist", "fascist", etc.
For example, in order to discredit FRY President S. Milosevic, Western TV companies imposed the image of "Milosevic - Hitler" on the world community, carrying out "genocide of Albanians".
3) Reception of "shining generalization".
It consists in the designation of a specific thing with a generalizing concept that has a positive emotional coloring - a symbol. The goal is to encourage the audience to accept and approve of the presented phenomenon. This technique hides the negative aspects and does not evoke unwanted associations from the audience (for example, "free world", "democracy", "national identity", "democracy", "sovereignty", etc.). New content is embedded in stable old symbols, and with this new content they freely enter the consciousness of people.
An example is the use of the monopoly symbol. In the USSR, this concept had a negative meaning. The corporations of the West were called monopolies robbing the people, the term state-monopoly capitalism was widely used. At the end of perestroika, the monopolies began to call the unified energy system, the unified railway network, the unified gas system, which gave them a negative meaning in the eyes of people and led to the conclusion that they should be fragmented.
4) Reception of "unattractive angle".
To form in viewers a repulsive feeling towards objectionable politicians, television uses unattractive camera angles or appropriately selects and assembles the footage, for example, searches for, removes, and then systematically shows how (in a stuffy room or in the heat, which is not mentioned) a leading opposition politician wipes off sweat. Thus, in the course of the repeated screening of shots with sweat wiping away in the subconsciousness of many voters, especially women, a psychological attitude is formed towards the personal rejection of this leader.
Television reports about events that need to be presented in a negative light carry an element of documentary, but the attention is focused on shots snatching out of a large crowd of difficult teenagers, "persons of non-Russian nationality", absurd slogans, even if they were contained in the proportion of 1: 100. In particular, the BBC video reports from the protests against the WTO in Seattle showed a close-up of a young man in a state of drug intoxication, who shouted protest slogans. Thus, the impression was created that the demonstration was attended by inadequate people who simply had nothing else to do.
5) Reception "default spiral".
It consists in convincing citizens of the support of the majority of society to those who are pleasing to manipulators by means of references to fabricated opinion polls or other facts. This makes people with different views, out of fear of being in socio-psychological isolation or other sanctions, to keep silent about their opinion or change it. Against the background of the silence of opponents, the voice of the real or imaginary majority becomes louder, which even more forces those who disagree or hesitate to accept the "generally accepted" position or to deeply conceal their beliefs. As a result of a chain reaction, the victory of the manipulators is ensured. The use of this technique in suggestive communication is calculated on the uncritical division of the stated assessment or point of view.
Most often, this technique is used by the media on the eve of various elections. TV companies engaged by the candidates present in their materials pre-election ratings, where, as a rule, the name of their candidate occupies one of the first places. Public opinion polls are often unreliable, and political forecasts of media sociologists sometimes openly manipulate public opinion.
6) Reception "image creation".
In recent years, in foreign countries, as well as in Russia, a whole direction has been successfully developing - image-making, which is engaged in creating images of company leaders and politicians that are attractive to the population. Image makers dictate to them not only the form of dress and demeanor, but also the content of the performances. The created images allow you to establish false reputations, distort images.
7) Reception "the game of the common people" (populism).
The purpose of this technique is to encourage the audience to associate the personality of the communicator and the concepts presented by him with positive values because of the "nationality" of these concepts or belonging to "ordinary people".
8) Use of color.
In addition to being used to attract attention, color can also influence the subconscious mind. A number of researchers point to its close relationship with emotions. Some colors are emotionally closely associated in the human psyche with certain objects or events. For example, red is associated with the sight of blood or reflections of fires and causes anxiety and anxiety, green - with the green of nature, has a calming effect and promotes relaxation. For example, the Yabloko party makes extensive use of green.
Other methods of exposure.
The location of the plot in the block of information messages.
The location of the plot in the block of information messages plays a significant role in the formation of the attitudes of information consumers. Two main effects are highlighted:
1) The effect of the order of information.
Information directly aimed at changing attitudes should precede any other information not related to the solution of this task.
The action of this phenomenon is based on an existing psychological pattern called the "edge memory effect". According to it, the information that was located at the beginning or end of the information block is best remembered. In accordance with this rule, newscasts are structured on the BBC-World TV channel. The first is a story aimed at creating a certain public opinion, and at the end of the issue, the main news is briefly repeated.
2) The effect of the primacy of the communication impact.
If the recipient has received some important message, a readiness arises in his mind for the perception of subsequent, more detailed information that confirms the first impression. If later there are facts that contradict the first impression, then the recipient is reluctant to give up what he has already believed. In this regard, in the United States, for example, there is a strict system of transferring materials from areas of hostilities. All messages from the battle zone are preliminarily checked by special military censorship bodies. There are strict accreditation rules for media representatives.
Speech construction of the message.
In addition, the most important condition for the impact is the speech structure of the message. Since ancient times, speech has been used as a powerful means of suggestion, since it has a strong emotional impact and can cause not only the desired response, but also certain forms of behavior.
There are many special techniques of linguistic, linguistic manipulation. To achieve the desired effect, television uses the following speech techniques:
1) The use of words, the meaning of which is easy to present in appropriate images and is easy to associate with the life experience of the information consumer. For example, the word "dictator" has an unambiguously negative meaning in the mass consciousness, therefore, as soon as the TV presenter calls a politician a dictator once, the audience will form an appropriate attitude towards him. This technique was used to discredit Saddam Hussein in the course of information support for the operation in Iraq. Abstract, abstract concepts, weakly associated with life experience, direct impressions and sensations reduce the power of suggestion.
2) Taking into account the peculiarities of speech dynamics.
The proposed message quickly reaches the audience's consciousness if it is pronounced in a sufficiently strong and confident voice, it uses a variety of intonations and pauses. The rate of speech should be high, because a high rate of speech is associated with a high level of the speaker's intelligence. The resulting pause in the speech of a television commentator, the speeding up or slowing down of the tempo of his speech, activates the involuntary attention of the audience.
3) Reinforcement of speech dynamics with appropriate facial expressions and gestures.
Facial expressions and gestures are less amenable to conscious control. Their decoding is carried out by itself, as if unconsciously, causing some emotional attitude. Psychologists also note that in order to create a favorable environment for the audience to perceive the material and increase the degree of confidence in this story, it is advisable for communicators to avoid negative particles and the word "no".
Consequently, Yavlinsky's slogan for the election campaign is "No corruption!" it is better to replace it with the slogan "We will defeat corruption!" or "Yes - the fight against corruption!"
Manipulative semantics.
Manipulative semantics is understood as a change in the meaning of words and concepts. A type of lie in the press is "constructing" a message from fragments of a statement or video. At the same time, the context changes, and a completely different meaning is created from the same words. Individual "grains" of the message seem to be not a lie, but the whole that a reporter or editor made of them may have nothing to do with reality. Today the media are constantly changing the meaning of words and the rules of the game, depending on the conjuncture. Political euphemisms that mask the true meaning of phenomena are also created with the help of terms. These are special words that have a precise meaning, and the audience is sharply divided into those who know the exact meaning of the term, and those who do not.
Simplification, stereotyping.
Found and even mathematically expressed relationships between the simplicity of the message and its perception. The media, in contrast to high culture, are focused on the masses. Therefore, strict restrictions have been established on the complexity and originality of messages (even on the length of words, although two or three abstruse words are always allowed in the article as a "seasoning" - they increase the attractiveness of the article). In general, the following rule was formulated a long time ago: a message should always have a level of intelligibility corresponding to an intelligence factor about ten points below the average coefficient of the social stratum for which the message is designed.
Approval and repetition.
Simplification allows you to express the main point you want to convey to the audience in a “concise, energetic and impressive form” - in the form of a statement. Assertion in any speech means rejection of discussion, since the power of a person or idea that can be discussed loses all credibility. It also means asking the audience, the crowd, to accept the idea without discussion as it is, without weighing all the pros and cons and answering yes without hesitation.
The media, relying on the prevailing type of thinking of a person of the masses, taught a person to think in stereotypes and gradually reduced the intellectual level of messages so that they turned into an instrument of stupidity. This was the main method of fixing the necessary stereotypes in the mind - repetition. Repetition lends additional persuasion weight to statements and turns them into obsessions. Hearing them over and over again, in different versions and for very different reasons, in the end you begin to be imbued with them. As an obsession, repetition becomes a barrier against differing or opposing opinions. Thus, it minimizes reasoning and quickly turns thought into action. Through repetition, a thought is separated from its author. It turns into evidence that does not depend on time, place, personality.
Crushing and urgency.
Dividing a whole problem into separate fragments so that the reader or viewer cannot connect them together and comprehend the problem is one of the special and important aspects of simplification. There are many techniques for splitting: newspaper articles are split into parts and placed on different pages, a text or TV show is broken up by advertisements. G. Schiller [10] gives a description of this technology: “Take, for example, the principle of composing an ordinary television or radio program or the layout of the first page of a large daily newspaper. Common to all is the complete heterogeneity of the material presented and the absolute denial of the relationship of social phenomena covered. Discussion programs prevailing on radio and television are compelling examples of fragmentation as a form of presentation.
One of the conditions for a successful and, as it were, justified fragmentation of problems is the urgency, immediacy of information, giving it the character of the immediate and urgency of the message. This is one of the most fundamental principles of the American media. It is believed that the built-up sense of urgency dramatically enhances their manipulative capabilities. Daily, or even hourly updating of information deprives it of any permanent structure. A person simply does not have time to comprehend and understand the messages - they are replaced by others, even newer. G. Schiller writes “The false sense of urgency arising from an emphasis on immediacy creates a feeling of the extraordinary importance of the subject of information, which also quickly dissipates. Accordingly, the ability to differentiate information by degree of importance weakens. Rapidly alternating reports of aircraft accidents and the advance of the National Liberation Forces in Vietnam, waste and strikes, extreme heat, etc. interfere with the compilation of assessments and judgments. In this state of affairs, the mental process of sorting, which normally contributes to the comprehension of information, is not able to perform this function. The brain turns into a sieve, into which a heap of sometimes important, but mostly empty informational messages is thrown out every hour. "the mental process of sorting, which normally contributes to the comprehension of information, is not able to perform this function. The brain turns into a sieve, into which a heap of sometimes important, but mostly empty informational messages is thrown out every hour.
Sensationalism.
The use of sensations allows the fragmentation of problems and fragmentation of information so that a person never receives complete, final knowledge. These are messages about events that are given such high importance and uniqueness that almost all the attention of the public is concentrated on them and for the right time. Under the guise of a sensation, you can either keep silent about important events that the public should not notice, or stop the scandal or psychosis, which is high time to stop - but so that it is not remembered. Preparing a sensation is a painstaking and expensive job that is done by professional specialists. In the specialized literature on this topic, it is noted that information given in the form of a sensation on television, with all the reports from the scene, live interviews, etc., as a rule, fundamentally distorts the event. But it doesn't matter, what matters is the effect for which the sensation is triggered. At the same time, the viewer is fascinated precisely by the fact that he is observing the "unexpected", unselected material of life, so that there is no mediator between him and reality. This illusion of authenticity is a powerful feature of television.
