Carl Hovland was a brilliant experimental psychologist who did not belong to any particular psychological approach, but whose research laid the foundations for countless social, experimental and cognitive psychological models. Carl Hovland was one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century.
Her professional career has been devoted to research in the field of persuasion, group dynamics, communication and reflection, her entire academic life has been developed at Yale University, she has also collaborated on very important research for the United States Army and the Rockefeller Foundation.
- He was the founding father of Yale’s famous school or group and conducted the first research on persuasion and persuasive communication.
- The results of his research are known as the Hovland-Yale model.
It was during World War II that Carl Hovland, while working for the United States Department of Defense, developed his studies on the motivation and change of attitude of soldiers.
Hovland was born in Chicago in 1912. C was an intelligent and introverted child who had trouble socializing with his peers, however, his teachers described him as a bright and shy student, who lived in his dream world and had trouble identifying with the group.
He studied mathematics, biology, physics and experimental psychology at Northwestern University, then completed his graduate studies at Yale University, in this way he had the opportunity to be influenced by many prominent psychologists of the time, such as Clark L. Hull, who was his mentor and with whom he worked for several years.
During his graduate studies, he published six academic articles, after graduation he remained a teacher at Yale for the remainder of his professional career. A research group known as the Yale Group was created around her work.
He married in 1938 and formed a family. World War II interrupted his research at Yale, and was drafted by the Department of Defense and continued his studies on the effectiveness of propaganda and training films for soldiers.
The purpose of this propaganda was to raise the morale of soldiers fighting Japanese troops. The campaign was painful and negatively affected the mood of the troops.
After the war, he returned to Yale, where he was appointed president of the psychology department; at age 39, he was elected president of the American Psychology Association, APA; however, after a dramatic family episode starring his wife, who was seriously ill and was the victim of a fatal accident, Carl Hovland also died prematurely of cancer at the age of 49.
During his time with Clark L. Hull, the two developed a series of studies aimed at evaluating memory learning and integrating the language of psychology with mathematical equations. condition, such as communication.
During World War II, he was recruited by the army to oversee military-motivated training programs. These studies have studied in depth resistance to change of heart and developed methods to overcome it.
The results were diverse, but it should be noted that Hovland and his team were able to refute the theory of Nazi propaganda about the effectiveness of unilateral reports. This theory argued that successful persuasive communication should present only one aspect of an argument, but Carl Hovland’s research has managed to counter it.
After the war and back to Yale, his research diversified into several areas of the media. In collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, he organized a research program on changing attitudes by presenting information.
As a result of this project, Hovland expanded his studies to include problem solving, communication, change of heart and social prejudice; in this sense, their contributions are highly appreciated in the field of social communication, something that no one had done until that time.
Carl Hovland has studied all the elements involved in the communicative process and his research has focused on the influence of all his variables, he identified the different phases of effective communication with an emphasis on changing attitudes: exposure to message, attention, understanding, acceptance. retention.
It also delve into the different circumstances of the message’s script, such as the credibility of the sender, the nature of the message and the provision of the recipient. In 1953, he published an article on mass communication, entitled Communication and Persuasion. In this study, he considered his main findings and analysis of persuasion processes.
In short, Carl Hovland revolutionized studies related to communication and persuasion, his research remains topical and has set a new course in later studies.