EFFECT OF THE USE OF AUTHORITY IN AN ARGUMENTATIVE SPEECH

Abstract

The relative effectiveness of authority and nonauthority presentation on audience attitude shift, retention, and conincement was determined. A 20-min speech favoring the proposition. The North Atlantic Treaty Nations should form a Federal Union, was presented to paired audiences (men and women in each). Pre- and post-test attitudes were based on a 5-point scale. Both authority and nonauthority presentations effected significant attitude shifts i the total group; a control group (no speech) made no shift in attitude. Authority and nonauthority presentation resulted in no significant differences in attitude shift, retention, or convincement in any of the 3 groups. In comparing the relative effectiveness of the 2 forms of presentation, all numerical differences favored the authority presentation.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 1953
Accession Number
AD0021427

Entities

People

  • Donald Sikkink
  • Howard Gilkinson

Organizations

  • University of Minnesota

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Classification
  • Language
  • Materials
  • Military Research
  • Minnesota
  • Nato
  • Playback
  • Ratings
  • Recording Systems
  • Supreme Court
  • Tape Recorders
  • Tape Recording
  • Tapes
  • United States
  • Universities

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Mathematics or Statistics
  • Organizational Psychology.