DIMENSIONS FOR EVALUATING THE ACCEPTABILITY OF MESSAGE SOURCES

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Volume 33, Issue 4, p. 563-576

Abstract

The work of Carl I. Hovland, Irving L. Janis & H. H. Kelly, COMMUNICATION AND PERSUASION, New Haven, Conn: Yale U Press, 1953, is built upon in a study on source credibility. 2 factor analyses were conducted: (a) a preliminary study with a sample of students & students' wives from Michigan State U (N= 91); (b) with a sample drawn from the adult pop of Lansing, Mich, which tested the hyp's derived from the preliminary study (N=117). R's were asked to evaluate each of 18 message sources on each of 83 scales. Product-moment Y's were computed on the overall matrix of sources & scales. The r matrix was submitted to a principal-axis factor analysis with Varimax rotation. 3 main dimensions were isolated as meaningful among the criteria actually used by receivers in evaluating message sources: safety, qualification, & dynamism. This 3-factor definition is not incompatible with Hovland, Janis, & Kelley's conceptualization of credibility as 'expertise' & 'trustworthiness.' It clarifies what is meant by those terms & adds the dimension of dynamism. It provides an operational base for defining source 'image.' It is argued that source 'image' should be defined in terms of the perceptions of the receiver & not in terms of objective characteristics of the source. Res'ers should also test the stability & generalizability of the construct across sources, contexts, R's, & cultures. 3 Tables. Modified HA.