cia l & in du st rial

so
p sy ch ol og y
ja Khopkar
with Rutu
Lesson For The Day

Public Opinions
today's learning objectives

meaning of public opinion

process of opinion formation
rational and irrational aspects
motivation & leadership in public opinion
mass media communication
What do know about
meaning of public & opinions

We use the term public to signify the general body of

persons belonging to a particular community whether
it is a small group, or a national group, or people of
the world as a whole.

The term opinion implies beliefs.

 kinds of beliefs

Some are accepted without question because of

the authority of the source which gives us the
belief.
Some beliefs are held on the basis of proof. This is
knowledge.
 We are not going to deal with either of
these kinds of beliefs.

Our concern here is with beliefs which are

about a controversial topic which admits
different kinds of beliefs on the same
issue.

thus opinions are beliefs about a

controversial topic.
 sentiments v/s opinions
Sentiments are emotional dispositions related to
objects or situations which are not subject to
controversies.

Sentiments differ from opinion in that they are

emotional dispositions and they involve situations
without whereas opinions involve beliefs with
respect to a controversial issue.
 attitudes v/s opinions
Attitude is a tendency to act opinion is something
verbal and symbolic in a particular way.
Public opinion helps us to assess the attitude of a
large group towards a particular issue. The stand
of an individual on a public issue may be
unfavorable to it. Thus an opinion is a verbal
response which indicates the attitude of an
individual towards a controversial issue.
 activity time! lets debate!!!!!!

group 1 says group 2 says

public opinions public opinions
are permanent. are termporary.
 rationale of this debate

public opinions consist of opinions held by people of a

smaller or a larger community about a particular
problem at a certain time.

This is why the public opinion may change from time to

time because people change, literally from time to time.
 FORMATION OF opinions

defining exploration alternative conflict consensus

the issue solutions of opinions
 defining the issue
We may take as an example the problem of prohibition. In the 1920s,
Mahatma Gandhi and the various Congress leaders looked upon the
problem of alcoholic drinks as an immediate problem to be solved,
particularly Mahatma Gandhi looked upon the excise revenue as
tainted revenue.
In this way an individual group of individuals who are interested in a
particular social problem will define the issue and speak about it in
order to draw the attention of the public to this matter. Thus the first
stage may be characterized as the stage of preliminary definition.
 exploration
Several people, as individuals and as groups, will start thinking
about the problem identified in the first stage.
They will consider to what extent the problem is a serious problem
and may discuss whether the time is ripe to take some action
about it.
There may be doubts whether the problem is capable of a solution.
So at this stage attempts will be made to study the issue, discover
the facts and think of possible solutions.
 alternative solutions

When the problem is being discussed and facts are being collected,
there will be alternative solutions.

Consequently different groups will get themselves interested in the

problem.
 conflicts

As different groups will get themselves interested in the problem,

some will support the original group which started the issue, while
others may show that the solution is not a satisfactory solution.
This is the stage of conflict.
Emotions may be heightened. Slogans may be used in favor of or
against a particular solution to the problem.
The opposite parties will also study and collect the facts which go
against the solution.
 consensus of opinions
Out of all these conversations, speeches, debates and propaganda,
most of the people will arrive at a decision in favor of one stand.

Thus there will be a consensus of opinion.

But this does not mean that all people have the same opinion.

It is possible that there may be voting on the issue either within the
legislature or outside.
what do you know about
the word
 definition of rational

Rational comes from the Latin word rationalis, meaning

reasonable or logical. If you're rational, you do things
based on logic, as opposed to impulse or whimsy.
what do you know about
the word
 definition of rational

Irrational means not using reason or clear thinking,

opposite of rational. If you're irrational, you do things
based on impulse or whimsy, as opposed to using your
logic.
rational & irrational
aspects of
 rational
assumption
The older view regarding public opinion was
that it was more or less a rational group
judgment.

It was believed that people will think about

issues and come to logical conclusions on the
basis of the facts that are available and thus
public opinion will always be in favor of what is
true and what is good.
 irrational
reality
Since the days of the French Revolution, there
has been an opposing view that man is
predominantly irrational and emotional.

So it was believed that public opinion largely

depends upon the intrigues of the leaders.

What is untrue or what is bad may be made the

basis for altering public opinion.
 irrational
reality

It was also considered that masses of people

are essentially irrational and emotional and they
are incapable of arriving at any objective
solutions about problems.

It was presumed that rationality is something

which is limited to the select few.
 nature of public opinions

Opinions are not wholly based upon rational grounds; but this is
not to say that rational grounds do not form the basis for
opinions.

We find that opinion is based on both rational and emotional,

logical and sentimental grounds.

That is why an appeal to the tradition, to religion, to ideals of

democracy. righteousness etc., all such appeals, will have very
great value in altering public opinion.
 motivation to act

Generally the urge to form a new opinion arises when

an individual feels frustrated because his habitual
modes of reaction are not sufficient to meet the
demands of the situation.

So the individual feels that a new type of reaction will

enable the group to meet the situation and solve the
social problem in a more satisfactory way.
 motivation to act
Strong motives are involved in the formation of
public opinion.

If such motives do not come into operation then

there will not be any public opinion on that problem
at all.

We may also point out that whether individuals take

one side or the other also depends upon their
motives.
 role of a leader in opinion formation

Leaders play a very important part in the formation of public

opinion :
They help in defining an issue.
There may be some frustrations or some longings in the
masses of people, it is the leader who verbalizes and
crystalizes these vague but strong feelings.
when there are strong feelings among the majority in a
group of people or in a country, the leader makes use of
the platform and the press in order to rouse the people.
methods to study
 studying the history

Using this method we can trace the way in which

public opinion has changed through a number of
years.
 case study

By interviewing a few persons in a group we can find

out something about the changes in public opinion in
the group.
quasi-experimental study

Hawthorne study example

control groups & experimental groups

independent & dependent variables
controls of the experiments
testing and analysis
theory & report writing
literature review

Letters sent to :

magazine editors
newspapers
legislators
cabinet members
 polling method

Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the

opinions of a population by conducting a series of
questions and then calculating the scores.

the population is divided into sections based on the

type of question through probability sampling.
mass media communication &
 mass media & public opinions

An understanding of the formation and change of public

opinion requires an understanding of the communication
media.

Among the various kinds of media of communication we will

study the newspaper, the radio, and motion picture because
these are the three which reach millions of human beings.
 newspapers

An understanding of the formation and change of public

opinion requires an understanding of the communication
media.

Among the various kinds of media of communication we will

study the newspaper, the radio, and motion picture because
these are the three which reach millions of human beings.
see you in the next class !