PSYC315 Week 4 Assignment 2018
Week 4 assignment
This assignment is worth up to 75 points. We will apply
course concepts from Myers Chapter 7 (Persuasion) to the following case:
Case. Spin doctoring
is form of impression management that has been in the repertoire of public
relations practitioners for four decades.
The term refers to the tactic of shifting the focus off of the negative
and harmful aspects of something by substituting another issue that has
positive connotations. Spin doctors
change the terms of public perception and debate using the mass media, which
today includes blogs and social media like Facebook. Spin doctoring is an international phenomenon
the serves the interests of organizations in every sector of society.
The tobacco industry is considered to be the classic case of
spin doctoring. After 1966 when the
Surgeon General of the U.S. pronounced that cigarette packages must carry a
health warning, the tobacco industry found a way to offset the damaging
publicity by sponsoring sports and arts events and giving grants for community
development. By de-emphasizing the
dangers of smoking and emphasizing the positive contributions being made to
community life, Big Tobacco trivialized the health problems and turned
attention instead to its displays of corporate social responsibility.
A contemporary example of spin doctoring relates to the
claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which was the
original rationale for the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. When the intelligence about weapons of mass
destruction proved to be faulty, the debate was quickly and skillfully shifted
by spin doctors to a humanitarian argument that the Iraqi people must be freed
from the clutches Saddam Hussein the ruthless dictator. While no evidence of weapons of mass
destruction could be found, mass graves of Iraqi citizens killed at the behest
of Saddam Hussein could be found and thus, legitimate the invasion.
The debate over climate change and global warming is very
similar in some ways to the tobacco example because it involves the efforts of
hydrocarbons producers to debunk the hypothesis that global warming is
primarily caused by the high levels of CO2 emissions associated with the
consumption of fossil fuels. By spinning
the argument away from CO2 emissions towards touting how technology is
producing cleaner, greener fuels, the hydrocarbon industry gives the appearance
of being environmentally responsible at a time when the pressure from
environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the Suzuki Foundation, and
high-profile environmentalists like Al Gore cannot be denied.
Your Assignment: Use
critical thinking to analyze the following three questions relating to aspects
of persuasion. Specifically utilized the
particular course concept or concepts stated in each question.
1. Which
paths(s) to persuasion is/are present in the global warming case? Explain how
the paths are shown.
2. How does
the tobacco industry example fit into our understanding of impression
management?
3. Is spin
doctoring the same as propaganda or is it fundamentally different? How so? Address the weapons of mass destruction case
in your answer.
Expectations
• You will
address each of the required questions in essay form, explaining the reasoning
behind your answer and identifying the course concept(s) explicitly;
• You will
use subheadings so that each question clearly occupies its own section of the
paper;
• Your name
will appear on the first page of your paper;
• You will
use APA citations in the text and include a References section at the end of
your paper
• You will
spell and grammar check your paper