Question

The ability of the audience to resist being persuaded by a commercial or a news program if they are warned beforehand about an attempt to persuade them, is about to occur is called____________________?

• A. Cultivation effect
• B. Inoculation effect
• C. Limited effect
• D. Personal influence effect

Hint:

Remember the core metaphor for Inoculation Theory: it works like a vaccine. The warning or weak argument prepares the 'immune system' (your critical thinking) to fight off the 'disease' (the strong persuasive message).

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This question describes a specific psychological and communication theory related to persuasion and resistance. The key elements are a prior warning and the subsequent resistance to a persuasive message.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let's analyze the theories mentioned:
- (A) Cultivation effect: This theory suggests that long-term, heavy exposure to media (especially television) shapes an individual's perception of social reality to be more like the reality portrayed on media. It's about long-term belief formation, not immediate resistance to persuasion.
- (B) Inoculation effect: Proposed by William J. McGuire, this theory uses a medical analogy. Just as a vaccine (a weakened form of a virus) stimulates the body to produce antibodies to fight off a future infection, exposing an audience to a weak version of a persuasive argument, and then refuting it, "inoculates" them, making them more resistant to stronger persuasive attempts later. A forewarning that a persuasive attempt is coming serves a similar function, triggering a person's defense mechanisms. This perfectly matches the scenario in the question.
- (C) Limited effect: This is a broad paradigm of media theories that argues that mass media have minimal or "limited" effects on audiences because audiences are active and their existing beliefs and social connections are more influential. It doesn't specifically describe the warning mechanism.
- (D) Personal influence effect: This relates to the two-step flow of communication, where media messages are filtered through influential "opinion leaders" who then pass on their interpretations to others. It focuses on the role of interpersonal relationships in media influence.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The theory that explains how a forewarning can help an audience resist persuasion is the inoculation theory. Therefore, option (B) is the correct answer.