Reinforcement theory

Last updated December 09, 2024

Reinforcement theory is a limited effects media model applicable within the realm of communication. The theory generally states that people seek out and remember information that provides cognitive support for their pre-existing attitudes and beliefs. The main assumption that guides this theory is that people do not like to be wrong and often feel uncomfortable when their beliefs are challenged.

Additionally, this theory focuses on the behavior-to-consequence connection within the antecedent-behvaior-consequence (ABC) model. This theory, in management, can also be referred to as operant conditioning or the law of effect. Quite simply, this theory notes that a behavior will continue with a certain level of frequency based on pleasant or unpleasant results.

Politics

Politics provides an excellent setting for the study of reinforcement theory. The statistics on undecided voters indicate that most people have pre-existing beliefs when it comes to politics. Relatively few people remain undecided late into high-profile elections. For example, about a month prior to the 2008 U.S. presidential election, less than one-fifth of likely voters claimed to be undecided (Sidoti, 2008). Much political advertising is targeted at these individuals not only because of their importance in the overall result, but also because they are the most susceptible to political persuasion (Johnson-Cartee & Copeland, 1997).

Part of the reason why undecided voters are frequent message targets can be found in reinforcement theory. Reinforcement theory predicts that people with already developed opinions will selectively attend to and cognitively incorporate information that supports their own views. Reinforcement theory has three primary mechanisms behind it: selective exposure, selective perception, and selective retention.

Selective exposure

The primary basis for the selective exposure assumption can be located within cognitive dissonance theory, although contemporary work (Knobloch-Westerwick, 2014) draws on numerous theories. Basically, this theory states that people do not like to have previously held beliefs challenged. When individuals encounter information that is discrepant from their own opinions, they seek to resolve the resultant disharmony somehow. People in general do not like to be wrong. A change or shift in attitude is sometimes interpreted as an admission that the original belief was inaccurate or inadequate. To avoid having their opinions challenged, research indicates that people tend to simply avoid information that might be discrepant in nature (Johnson-Cartee and Copeland, 1997). Support for this tendency to avoid dissonant messages can also be found in mood management theory. Basically, this theory states that people expose themselves to stimuli that are pleasurable and avoid stimuli that might induce a negative reaction (Zillman & Bryant, 1985).

The selective exposure phenomenon focuses on how people manage to avoid incongruent information and primarily encounter information that supports predispositions. Obviously, most are not able to completely avoid all potentially challenging information. In these cases, message receivers may outright reject dissonant messages (Wheeless, 1974). The reasons for rejection are varied and plentiful. For example, the person might justify message rejection by attacking the source's credibility.

A topic as emotional and involving as political preference is especially subject to the selective exposure phenomenon. In fact, Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet (1948) found selective exposure early on to be a necessary link in their theory that campaigns primarily reinforce and activate preexisting political notions. The ever-increasing number of media options further facilitates the public's ability to selectively expose themselves to desired media messages. The explosion of the Internet has put the individual in the driver's seat with regard to what kind of information s/he will encounter. McLeod, Kosicki, and McLeod (2002) stated that information selection and "exposure is much more specialized and individualized" (p. 221) in the era of the World Wide Web. Furthermore, cable channel options continue to multiply with specific, niche target audiences in mind. Some researchers worry that this increased level of fragmentation makes it possible for people to effectively avoid diverse viewpoints and perspectives (McLeod, Kosicki, & McLeod, 2002). If a person limits his/her information acquisition to that which is only consistent with a personal point of view, s/he will surely not contribute to a fully informed electorate.

Selective perception

It is not possible to completely avoid all discrepant messages. When exposure to a dissonant message has occurred, the phenomenon of selective perception often follows. This process simply means that people skew their perceptions to coincide with what they desire (Johnson-Cartee & Copeland, 1997). Perception is subjective and dependent on several factors; one factor, for example, is media type. Prior research indicates that people who actively process television news tend to engage in more individualized explanations of an event as opposed to those active processors of newspapers (McLeod, Kosicki, & McLeod, 2002). The selective perception discussed here, however, is done in order to reduce dissonance with previously held beliefs (Wheeless, 1974). Several communication theories use this assumption of skewed perception as their basis (i.e., hostile media phenomenon, third-person effect).

In the political realm, selective perception often occurs when voters are presented with a candidate position that they do not agree with but otherwise supports the candidate. Sherrod (1971) found that "voters preferring a particular candidate do selectively perceive that candidate's position on an issue in such a way as to make it consistent with their own" (p. 554). He pinpointed three primary reasons why the initial disagreement happens. First, the candidate and voter may share political party affiliation, but may not agree on all of the issues. Second, the voter may simply be unaware of the candidate's actual position. Third, social pressure to take a particular stand on an issue may exist that causes the voter to be incongruent with his or her preferred candidate (Sherrod, 1971). Selective Perception is not only associated with the voter and the candidate they affiliate with. Selective perception is also seen when someone attacks a political opponent by focusing on a particular issue they disagree with. Voters will ignore any common stances on issues with the opposition, and thus scorch the opponent on one main idea (Falcon, 2012).^[1] An example of political selective perception can be seen in Barry Ritholtz's Politics and Selective Perception chart. In this chart, we are given the unemployment numbers at specific points in time under different House Majorities. Selective perception allows the user to view this chart in any way they feel is deemed correct, though the chart doesn't reveal really anything about politics or unemployment (Ritholtz, 2010).^[2]

According to Sherrod (1971), there are three potential actions the voter may take to reduce dissonance in this situation. First, the voter may learn about the candidate's stand on the issue and then change either his or her opinion of the candidate or alter his or her own position on the issue in question to bring them in line. Second, the voter may still choose to disagree with the preferred candidate's position and instead will lessen the issue's personal importance. Last, the voter may engage in selective perception and actually misperceive the candidate's position to align better with the voter's own stand than it actually does. This does not require any change in attitude regarding either the candidate or the issue on the part of the voter. Sherrod's (1971) research found the third option to occur with the greatest frequency: he found that voters most often selectively misperceive a candidate's position on an issue rather than either change one's own view or relegate the issue to a status of lesser importance.

Selective retention

The final mechanism behind reinforcement theory has to do with selective retention and recall. This phenomenon occurs when "people remember only those items that are in agreement with their predispositions" (Johnson-Cartee & Copeland, 1997, 94). The ease with which a person can recall information impacts the level and intensity of judgment related to the topic. For example, people who can easily recall an example related to the message are more likely to make an intense judgment about it (Shrum, 2002).

In general, most people are unable to accurately recall current event information presented on the news. Gunter (1991) found that only about 5% of television news viewers could accurately recall details of what they saw a short time after the newscast. Audience factors such as education and socio-economic status also affect recall ability (Surlin & Gordon, 1976). Although additional variables such as news presentation and format affect information retention, people generally can better remember messages that are consistent with their own attitudes and beliefs (Wheeless, 1974). Surlin and Gordon (1976) found that political information in particular is more readily retained and summoned up when it supports preexisting beliefs and political opinions. Information that threatens such beliefs is more easily forgotten or lost. This phenomenon also extends to political advertising. Prior research found that a candidate's supporters could more easily bring to mind his/her political ad than the opponent's.

Notes

↑ "Selective Perception Among Voters". PoliSci News Review. March 2, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
↑ Barry Ritholtz (November 6, 2010). "Politics and Selective Perception" . Retrieved May 14, 2016.

Related Research Articles

In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is described as the mental disturbance people feel when they realize their cognitions and actions are inconsistent or contradictory. This may ultimately result in some change in their cognitions or actions to cause greater alignment between them so as to reduce this dissonance. Relevant items of information include peoples' actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environment. Cognitive dissonance is typically experienced as psychological stress when persons participate in an action that goes against one or more of those things. According to this theory, when an action or idea is psychologically inconsistent with the other, people do all in their power to change either so that they become consistent. The discomfort is triggered by the person's belief clashing with new information perceived, wherein the individual tries to find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort.

The bandwagon effect is a psychological phenomenon where people adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so. More specifically, it is a cognitive bias by which public opinion or behaviours can alter due to particular actions and beliefs rallying amongst the public. It is a psychological phenomenon whereby the rate of uptake of beliefs, ideas, fads and trends increases with respect to the proportion of others who have already done so. As more people come to believe in something, others also "hop on the bandwagon" regardless of the underlying evidence.

Appeal to emotion or argumentum ad passiones is an informal fallacy characterized by the manipulation of the recipient's emotions in order to win an argument, especially in the absence of factual evidence. This kind of appeal to emotion is irrelevant to or distracting from the facts of the argument and encompasses several logical fallacies, including appeal to consequences, appeal to fear, appeal to flattery, appeal to pity, appeal to ridicule, appeal to spite, and wishful thinking.

Communal reinforcement is a social phenomenon in which a concept or idea is repeatedly asserted in a community, regardless of whether sufficient empirical evidence has been presented to support it. Over time, the concept or idea is reinforced to become a strong belief in many people's minds, and may be regarded by the members of the community as fact. Often, the concept or idea may be further reinforced by publications in the mass media, books, or other means of communication. The phrase "millions of people can't all be wrong" is indicative of the common tendency to accept a communally reinforced idea without question, which often aids in the widespread acceptance of factoids. A very similar term to this term is community-reinforcement, which is a behavioral method to stop drug addiction.

An attitude "is a summary evaluation of an object of thought. An attitude object can be anything a person discriminates or holds in mind." Attitudes include beliefs (cognition), emotional responses (affect) and behavioral tendencies. In the classical definition an attitude is persistent, while in more contemporary conceptualizations, attitudes may vary depending upon situations, context, or moods.

Agenda-setting theory suggests that the communications media, through their ability to identify and publicize issues, play a pivotal role in shaping the problems that attract attention from governments and international organizations, and direct public opinion towards specific issues. The theory suggests that the media can shape public opinion by determining what issues are given the most attention, and has been widely studied and applied to various forms of media. The way news stories and topics that impact public opinion are presented is influenced by the media. It is predicated on the idea that most individuals only have access to one source of information on most issues: the news media. Since they establish the agenda, they may affect how important some things are seen to be.

Uses and gratifications theory is a communication theory that describes the reasons and means by which people seek out media to meet specific needs. The theory postulates that media is a highly available product, that audiences are the consumers of the product, and that audiences choose media to satisfy given needs as well as social and psychological uses, such as knowledge, relaxation, social relationships, and diversion.

The hostile media effect, originally deemed the hostile media phenomenon and sometimes called hostile media perception, is a perceptual theory of mass communication that refers to the tendency for individuals with a strong preexisting attitude on an issue to perceive media coverage as biased against their side and in favor of their antagonists' point of view. Partisans from opposite sides of an issue will tend to find the same coverage to be biased against them. The phenomenon was first proposed and studied experimentally by Robert Vallone, Lee Ross and Mark Lepper.

Attitudes are associated beliefs and behaviors towards some object. They are not stable, and because of the communication and behavior of other people, are subject to change by social influences, as well as by the individual's motivation to maintain cognitive consistency when cognitive dissonance occurs—when two attitudes or attitude and behavior conflict. Attitudes and attitude objects are functions of affective and cognitive components. It has been suggested that the inter-structural composition of an associative network can be altered by the activation of a single node. Thus, by activating an affective or emotional node, attitude change may be possible, though affective and cognitive components tend to be intertwined.

In media studies, mass communication, media psychology, communication theory, and sociology, media influence and themedia effect are topics relating to mass media and media culture's effects on individuals' or audiences' thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. Through written, televised, or spoken channels, mass media reach large audiences. Mass media's role in shaping modern culture is a central issue for the study of culture.

The third-person effect hypothesis predicts that people tend to perceive that mass media messages have a greater effect on others than on themselves, based on personal biases. The third-person effect manifests itself through an individual's overestimation of the effect of a mass communicated message on the generalized other, or an underestimation of the effect of a mass communicated message on themselves.

The priming theory states that media images stimulate related thoughts in the minds of audience members.

In the social sciences, framing comprises a set of concepts and theoretical perspectives on how individuals, groups, and societies organize, perceive, and communicate about reality. Framing can manifest in thought or interpersonal communication. Frames in thought consist of the mental representations, interpretations, and simplifications of reality. Frames in communication consist of the communication of frames between different actors. Framing is a key component of sociology, the study of social interaction among humans. Framing is an integral part of conveying and processing data daily. Successful framing techniques can be used to reduce the ambiguity of intangible topics by contextualizing the information in such a way that recipients can connect to what they already know.

Mood management theory posits that the consumption of messages, particularly entertaining messages, is capable of altering prevailing mood states, and that the selection of specific messages for consumption often serves the regulation of mood states. Mood management theory now belongs to a larger group of theoretical approaches which speak on media content and how it plays a role in mood management. Mood optimization is a current affective sate of media mood management.

Selective exposure is a theory within the practice of psychology, often used in media and communication research, that historically refers to individuals' tendency to favor information which reinforces their pre-existing views while avoiding contradictory information. Selective exposure has also been known and defined as "congeniality bias" or "confirmation bias" in various texts throughout the years.

Exemplification theory is a theory that states that an event is the exemplification of a property in an entity. This identity is often modeled as an "ordered triple" of an entity, property type, and time.

Affective disposition theory (ADT), in its simplest form, states that media and entertainment users make moral judgments about characters in a narrative which in turn affects their enjoyment of the narrative. This theory was first posited by Zillmann and Cantor (1977), and many offshoots have followed in various areas of entertainment. Entertainment users make constant judgments of a character's actions, and these judgments enable the user to determine which character they believe is the "good guy" or the "villain". However, in an article written in 2004, Raney examined the fundamental ADT assumption that viewers of drama always form their dispositions toward characters through moral judgment of motives and conduct. Raney argued that viewers/consumers of entertainment media could form positive dispositions toward characters before any moral scrutinizing occurs. He proposed that viewers sometimes develop story schemas that provide them "with the cognitive pegs upon which to hang their initial interpretations and expectations of characters". The basic idea of the affective disposition theory is used as a way to explain how emotions become part of the entertainment experience.

Political bias is a bias or perceived bias involving the slanting or altering of information to make a political position or political candidate seem more attractive. With a distinct association with media bias, it commonly refers to how a reporter, news organisation, or TV show covers a political candidate or a policy issue.

Dolf Zillmann is dean emeritus, and professor of information sciences, communication and psychology at the University of Alabama (UA). Zillmann predominantly conducted research in media psychology, a branch of psychology focused on the effects of media consumption on human affect, developing and expanding a range of theories within media psychology and communication. His work centred on the relation between aggression, emotion, and arousal through media consumption, predominantly in pornography and violent genres of movie and television. His research also includes the effects of music consumption, video games, and sports.

References

Library resources about
Reinforcement theory

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Klapper, J. (1960). The effects of mass communication. New York: Free Press.
Knobloch-Westerwick, S. (2014). Choice and preference in media use: Advances in selective exposure theory and research. New York: Routledge. http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780805855159/
Lazarsfeld, P. F., Berelson, B., & Gaudet, H. (1948). The people's choice: How the voter makes up his mind in a Presidential campaign (2nd Ed.). New York, Columbia University Press.
Johnson-Cartee, K. & Copeland, G. (1997). Inside political campaigns: Theory and practice. Westport, CT: Praeger.
McLeod, D. M., Kosicki, G. M., and McLeod, J. M. (2002). Resurveying the boundaries of political communications effects. In J. Bryant and D. Zillman (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 215–267). (2nd Ed.). Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Rouner, D. & Perloff, R. M. (1988). Selective perception of outcome of first 1984 Presidential debate. Journalism Quarterly, 65, 141–240.
Sherrod, D. R. (1971). Selective perception of political candidates. Public Opinion Quarterly, 35, 554–562.
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Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 69–95). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Sidoti, L. (2008). Undecided voters not satisfied with both candidates. Yahoo!. Retrieved April 6, 2008, from https://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-the-persuadables.
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Zillmann, D., & Bryant, J. (1985). Affect, mood, and emotion as determinants of selective exposure. In D. Zillmann & J. Bryant (Eds.), Selective exposure to communication (pp. 157–190). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

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[1] "Selective Perception Among Voters". PoliSci News Review. March 2, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2016.

[2] Barry Ritholtz (November 6, 2010). "Politics and Selective Perception" . Retrieved May 14, 2016.

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