What is the inoculation theory of persuasion?

Inoculation theory is a social psychological/communication theory that explains how an attitude or belief can be protected against persuasion or influence in much the same way a body can be protected against disease–for example, through pre-exposure to weakened versions of a stronger, future threat.

What is McGuire’s inoculation theory?

Inoculation theory of resistance to influence. At the core of inoculation theory (McGuire, 1961a,b) is a biological metaphor. McGuire (1964) suggested that attitudes could be inoculated against persuasive attacks in much the same way that one’s immune system can be inoculated against viral attacks.

Who invented inoculation theory?

Inoculation theory was devised by William McGuire in the early 1960s as a strategy to protect attitudes from change—to confer resistance to counterattitudinal influences, whether such influences take the form of direct attacks or sustained pressures.

What is inoculation theory in psychology?

Inoculation theory—the classic social psychological theory of resistance to persuasion that explains how an attitude or belief can be made resistant to attacks through pre-exposure to weakened forms of challenges (McGuire, 1970)—has established efficacy as a strategy to confer resistance against persuasion across …

What is inoculation in public speaking?

The inoculation theory was proposed by McGuire in response to a situation where the goal is to persuade someone not to be persuaded by another. The theory is a model for building resistance to persuasion attempts by exposing people to arguments against their beliefs and giving them counter arguments to refute attacks.

How does attitude inoculation work?

Attitude inoculation is a technique used to make people immune to attempts to change their attitude by first exposing them to small arguments against their position. It is so named because it works just like medical inoculation, which exposes a person’s body to a weak version of a virus.

How is attitude inoculation used?

Is Innoculate or inoculate?

Inoculate is more general and can mean to implant a virus, as is done in vaccines, or even to implant a toxic or harmful microorganism into something as part of scientific research. Immunize is the most general of the three words and can mean to grant immunity to a wide variety of things, not just diseases.