Transmission of attitude relevant information through a communication chain.

Abstract

Female college students summarized the main points of a speech concerning the legalization of marijuana. These summaries were addressed to discussion partners who seemingly favored or opposed legalization. Summaries addressed to prolegalizati on audiences were thought (by naive judges) to derive from messages that were more favorable to legalization than were summaries addressed to antilegalizat ion audiences. This transmission bias emerged with increasing clarity as the retention interval was lengthened. In another experiment, subjects rated several different transmitters (summarizers). Although it was clear that the transmitters did not necessarily endorse the messages that they summarized, the ratings that the transmitters received were nonetheless most favorable if (fortuitously ) they had been required to relay information that was supportive of the listeners' views. Communication involves the transfer of information from one person to the next, and thereby enables the individual to learn about situations with which he has not had direct (personal) contact. Social psychologists have long recognized the importance of informal communication networks for disseminating attitudes and information; systematic communication errors are not uncommon, however (Campbell, 1958).