Blog 2: Psychodrama in the Social World

Psychodrama in the Social World

Abstract

Psychodrama and group therapy emerged in the 1920s through the creative passion of Jacob Moreno - a Romanian-born, Austrian-educated psychiatrist who emigrated to the United States to pursue his belief in the powers of spontaneity. Although his therapy method was set in a group situation, and centred around interrelationships with others in society, it focused on the interpersonal conflicts of the individual. Since its experimental beginnings in theatre-based improvisational dramatics, psychodrama has become a popular and growing method of action-based group psychotherapy worldwide. It is used in a variety of contexts, both clinical and non-clinical, and continues to be integrated with other more traditional forms of psychotherapy.

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What is psychodrama?

Psychodrama can be defined as a dynamic and action-oriented method of psychotherapy that uses role-playing techniques to assist individuals, families or groups to address people’s problems or issues. The process attempts to reveal the source of individuals’ unconscious internal conflicts and help people understand themselves and their social structures.
(Blatner, 1988, 1997; Dayton, 2000; Hamer, 1990).

Where does it come from?

Jacob L. Moreno is considered the inventor of psychodrama. He was a Viennese psychiatrist who moved from the traditional method of one-to-one therapy to treating people in groups, developing the idea of group psychotherapy (Blatner, 1997). One of Moreno’s first therapeutic group initiatives was in 1912 when he organized Viennese prostitutes to establish self-help groups to share emotional support and coping strategies. In the early 1920s, Moreno experimented with improvisational dramatics, initially with children and then with adults, which gradually developed into the more therapeutic method of psychodrama. In 1925, Moreno emigrated to the United States to more freely pursue his theories in social science. He settled in New York and developed psychodrama into the widely-used therapeutic technique it is today (Blatner, 1988).

Moreno was particularly interested in using spontaneity and the importance of the present moment (in fact, he coined the term ‘here-and-now’ in 1923). He emphasized creativity, action, self-disclosure and nonverbal forms of communication. He believed that through group therapy, dysfunctional ways of relating to other people can be revealed. These can be worked on within the group to retrain the individual’s habitual reactive patterns and discover other ways of responding. Moreno considered groups as “society in miniature” and therefore hoped to address some of society’s interrelationship problems through this group therapy method and the techniques of psychodrama (Blatner, 1997; Dayton, 2000).


Psychodrama vs similar-sounding methods

Before going into more detail about how psychodrama works, there needs to be a clarification on how psychodrama differs from other similar-sounding dynamic methods. There are a number of action-based forms, such as sociodrama and drama therapy, which focus on social relationships and dramatic techniques, but which differ from psychodrama. The main difference is that although psychodrama involves working within a group, it addresses the particularities of a single person. Sociodrama and drama therapy are both group-centred methods. Sociodrama focuses on the roles shared within the group (eg. all nurses, or all parents) rather than by individuals in particular. Drama therapy (which is often used as a warm-up technique prior to a psychodrama session) encourages improvisations and trying out roles other than their own to explore self-expression, rather than individual’s playing scenes from their own lives (Blatner, 1997). (More detailed descriptions of sociodrama, drama therapy and another similar-sounding concept called sociometry can be found in Appendix A.)


How psychodrama works

Psychodrama involves an individual, within a group setting, staging a problem in their life as if it were a scene from a play (Blatner, 1997). With Moreno’s theatrical background, it is no surprise that the terminology used is drawn from the theatre. A typical psychodramatic setup includes five main elements which are protagonist, director, stage, audience, and auxiliary. The action scene itself is called the enactment. The descriptions of these terms are:

Enactment – portrayal of life situation in dramatic form, including encounters which may have only previously existed in memory or fantasy. The enactment can be in the past, present or future.
Protagonist – subject of the enactment.
Director – orchestrates the psychodrama to help the protagonist explore the problem.
Auxiliary – anyone besides the protagonist and the director who takes part.
Audience – others present (they may provide feedback or act as auxiliaries when needed).
Note that roles are not fixed, they can shift and a person could play each one of them in turn.
Stage – area where the enactment takes place, not necessarily an actual stage.

There are several other common elements in psychodrama sessions such as the empty-chair technique where an empty chair is used instead of an auxiliary which may be less confronting for some protagonists. Doubling is where another person acts as a therapeutic ally by standing close to the protagonist and verbalising their internal processing, the inner voice of the protagonist. Role reversal is an important part of psychodrama where the protagonist can stand in the shoes of another person. They can see themselves from others’ points of view and in so doing can perhaps gain empathy for themselves (Dayton, 2000).

As scenes are enacted, protagonists can become aware of emotional states triggered by the reexperiencing of events. They can see how they might have formed habitual ways of responding to others. They can try out different scenarios that might give them an alternative way of perceiving a past event. This may be especially so during role-reversal where they can see things from another person’s point of view. They can practice alternative ways of reacting to a similar scenario in the future and the non-judgmental group setup provides a safe place to practice self-expression and self-control. Through psychodrama, protagonists can regain some power and control over their environment (Blatner, 1988; Dayton, 2000).

Other techniques can be used during psychodrama. Sculpting, for example, is less verbal and less action-oriented. Acting is not required, rather, it is based on a visual representation of relationships, still using people though. People are physically positioned in a way to represent their relationships with one another. For example, you might have your mother standing with her hands on her hips or with her head hung low when she’s placed facing another family member. In one family case study from Tales and Transformations, an eight-year-old daughter is asked to sculpt how she would like the family to be in the future. She put the family inside a teepee, holding hands out over the fire, and touching each other shoulder-to-shoulder. This broke down some barriers between the family memebers and prompted them to talk about how they would like their inter-relationships to change for the better. Puppets have also been useful, especially with children between the ages of 3 and 14, to enact scenarios (Roberts, 1994).

Psychodrama can help unconscious emotions, memories or fantasies to take a more concrete shape and enable the protagonist to make conscious choices about how to deal with them. It should bring about understanding, conflict clarification and resolution (Blatner, 1988; Dayton, 2000).


Where psychodrama is used

Psychodrama is being used in a variety of contexts, both clinical and non-clinical. In addition to specific psychotherapy sessions in the clinical field, psychodramatic techniques are also being used in educational settings (Freeman, Sullivan & Fulton, 2003; Zachariah & Moreno, 2006), outdoor education (Outward Bound, 2007), prisons (Jeffries, 2005), professional organizations (ANZ Psychodrama Association Inc, 2007l), social change groups (ActNow Theatre for Social Change, 2007), community initiatives (Playback Theatre, 2007), and cross-cultural training programs (Mak & Barker, 2004). (See Appendix B for more details about how psychodrama is being used within some of these contexts.)


How psychodrama relates to social psychology

“By learning how to act properly and how to conform to social rules and norms, people can improve their chances of social acceptance.” (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008, p.74)

Psychodrama is a method in which individuals can, within a safe and supportive group setting, uncover how personal issues can affect healthy communications with other people, and explore other ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. This transfers well with the ABC triad of social psychology: Affect (how people feel inside), Behaviour (what people do) and Cognition (what people think about). Through the psychodramatic method, individuals can address each area of the ABC triad in a fully experiential way.

Psychodrama is a method which was developed to help people relate to one another more effectively and harmoniously. Moreno intended his methods to help not only individuals, but also to heal the divisions between groups and nations. In fact, he intended this creative and spontaneous approach to spread into all social domains possible, beyond the clinical area, stating that: “A truly therapeutic procedure cannot have less an objective than the whole of mankind” (Blatner, 1988, p.60).


Conclusion

Psychodrama has developed over the decades from a Vienna-based theatrically-driven improvisation technique into a globally-accepted group psychotherapeutic approach. Psychodrama complements other creative therapies as well as more traditional talk-based therapies. It has also inspired other action-based and creativity-focused methods to emerge.

Although working in a group setting, psychodrama aims for every participant to benefit on an individual level, which in turn will benefit societal interpersonal relationships. Moreno's vision to improve community harmony by releasing creativity through individual self-reflection and spontaneous self-expression in groups has consistently gained support over time. It is being used for psychotherapy, personal development as well as being adapted to nonclinical contexts.

Psychotherapy has become more dynamic, integrative and flexible since Moreno’s techniques surfaced in the 1920s. Having an alternative to verbal therapy has allowed therapeutic methods to be shared across age groups, genders and cultures and in so doing has reduced the time required to reach positive outcomes - something that might, in some cases, have taken months or years to achieve otherwise.


References

ActNow Theatre for Social Change (2007). Retrieved October 22nd, 2007 from http://www.actnowtheatre.org.au/

ANZ Psychodrama Association Inc. (2007). Retrieved October 22nd, 2007 from http://anzpa.org/Pdis.html

Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. J. (2008). Social psychology and human nature (1st ed.) Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Blatner, A. (1988). Foundations of psychodrama: History, theory, and practice (3rd ed.). New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Blatner, A. (1997). Acting-in: practical applications of psychodramatic methods (3rd ed.). London: Free Association Books Ltd.

Blatner, A. (2007). Sociometry: The dynamics of rapport. Retrieved October 27th, 2007 from
http://www.blatner.com/adam/pdntbk/sociomnotes.htm.

Dayton, T. (2000). Trauma and addiction: Ending the cycle of pain through emotional literacy. Florida: Health Communications, Inc.

Freeman, G.D., Sullivan, K. & Fulton, C.R. (2003). Effects of creative drama on self-concept,social skills, and problem behaviour. The Journal of Educational Research, 96(3), 131-138.

Hamer, N. (1990). Group-analytic psychodrama. Group Analysis, 23, 245-254,SAGE publications.

Jeffries, J. (2005). Psychodrama: Working through action: ‘My thank you is for your concern’. Group Analysis, 38(3), 371-379, SAGE publications.

Mak, A.S., & Barker, M. (2004). A social cognitive learning program for facilitating intercultural relations. In Kashima, Y., Endo, Y., Kashima, E. S., Leung, C., & McClure, J. (Eds), Progress in Asian Social Psychology, 4 (pp.157-179). Seoul: Kyoyook-Kwahak-Sa Publishing.

Outward Bound (2007). Retrieved October 29th, 2007 from http://www.outwardbound.org.au/

Playback Theatre (2007). Retrieved October 5th, 2007 from http://playbacknet.org/interplay/Previousissues/

Roberts, J. (1994). Tales and transformations: Stories in families and family therapy (1st ed.). New York: W.W.Norton & Company.

Zachariah, M. & Moreno, R. (2006). Finding my place: The use of sociometric choice and sociodrama for building community in the school classroom. Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama, & Sociometry,58 (4), 157-167.



Appendix A

Comparing psychodrama to similar-sounding techniques and concepts

Sociodrama: Exploration of a problem that involves a role or a role relationship, a theme which might be relevant to a group of people, eg. people from different racial backgrounds meeting to resolve differences, nurses trying to understand their own feelings regarding AIDS patients, new parents sharing their feelings about dealing with a new baby. It is group-centred and focuses on roles shared within the group rather than by individuals in particular (Blatner, 1997).

Drama therapy: Drama therapists generally train first in the theatre and later receive specialized training in drama therapy and psychodrama. Psychodramatists are the reverse where they tend to start out as psychotherapists who later specialize in using psychodramatic methods. They focus on the protagonists playing scenes involving their own lives, whereas drama therapists may encourage group members to use improvisations or taking on roles other than their own to explore self-expression Drama therapy is more group centred (Blatner, 1997).

Sociometry: Moreno was interested in the concept of rapport – the connectedness people feel with other people, whether that be the sense of attraction or repulsion. For example, when a person meets somebody new, they may feel that they are “not my kind of person” or vice versa. Moreno called these invisible currents of connectedness ‘tele’ and termed this measure of social relationships ‘sociometry’ (Blatner, 2000).

Sociodrama and sociometry deal with role conflicts in groups and organizations, in a variety of contexts. Along with drama therapy, they promote group cohesion, spontaneity and creativity (Blatner, 1988).


Appendix B

Where psychodramatic techniques are used: in and out of the clinical field

School
Results from a study in the US involving 3rd and 4th grade children within a classroom context found that the use of creative dramatic activities, such as role play and working cooperatively, may positively affect children’s self-control. For example, very shy children became more relaxed and less inhibited to participation and more outgoing students became more aware of the need to work cooperatively (Freeman, Sullivan & Fulton, 2003). Another study with similar aged school children, this time from Canada, found similarly positive outcomes when using sociodramatic and sociometric tools to encourage use of conflict resolution skills. In fact, some of the children involved and their parents requested the activities to become part of the school curriculum (Zachariah & Moreno, 2006).

Outdoor education
Outward Bound Australia uses outdoor education in the form of experiential learning to improve participants' self-confidence, teamwork, leadership abilities, and communication skills. A quote on the website states: "for self-concept change programs, the evidence suggests that physically-based interventions...are more effective than cognitive, behavioural and other therapies" (Hattie, 1992). http://www.outwardbound.org.au/content/view/186/106/

Prison
Jinnie Jeffries works as a psychodrama psychotherapist in a UK prison where psychodrama has been used as a therapeutic treatment program for over 20 years. She believes that in order to reduce crime and protect the public we need to go beyond the criminal’s offence. We should seek to understand the contributing factors that led to the crime and also heal the disruptive internal worlds of those who offend against others. Many of the men at the prison had suffered extreme cruelty in their childhood. Psychodrama gave them the opportunity to discover how they may have internalized their hatred for themselves at being weak and then projected this anger onto others weaker than themselves. Psychodramatic sessions have helped prisoners to reduce their internal rage and to find alternative ways of perceiving and reacting to past and present life experiences (Jeffries, 2005).

Organisations
Practitioners from various professions apply psychodrama to their own specialities. Organizational development consultants may use it in developing teams, in training managers on how to supervise and direct others or training employees in simulated situations. Professionals use the method to help people become clear about their long term goals and strategies for satisfying these or to help them negotiate with others to attain goals in a way which is mutually satisfactory. (Adapted from ANZPA website: http://anzpa.org/Pdis.html)

Social change groups
ActNow Theatre for Social Change (2007) uses theatre as a tool for social change using creative, dramatic concepts such as street theatre and invisible theatre. For instance, a staged dramatic social commentary piece is enacted in a public place. Although used in a different context to psychodrama, it is still a dramatic method to engage with society through creativity and spontaneity. It is aimed at promoting social interaction, thinking and change by exchanging information and ideas. http://www.actnowtheatre.org.au/

Playback Theatre
Playback Theatre is created through a unique collaboration between performers and audience. Someone tells a story or moment from their life, chooses actors to play the different roles, then watches as their story is immediately recreated and given artistic shape and coherence.

Influences on Playback Theatre include psychodrama. While there are differences in form and practice, there are many shared values. For example, spontaneity and the release of creative energy and inclusiveness - every individual has a place in the collective.

This method has been used in several different contexts such as social change and action (such as within programs to enhance self-esteem in Aboriginal communities), corporate contexts (eg. organizational re-structuring), education (as part of community service programs), therapy (outpatients at a psychiatric unit share stories of coping), community events (celebrations or regular events) and public performances (theatres and art centres).

“Playback Theatre gives attention to social interaction. This theatre form is in direct service to healing relationship, communication and understanding between people. By listening to personal stories we feel and weave the deeper web of our story as a community of people and thus tap into the collective and universal experience. Social change and transformation begins here, as we make space for the stories of the community, through individual voices, and are affected by them.” (Adapted from the playbacknet.org website.)

The Playback website http://playbacknet.org/interplay/Previousissues/ has some interesting articles on places where the Playback practitioners have performed: Africa (between Tutsis and Hutus), Auschwitz (including people who were part of that horror), Macedonia (as the Balkan conflict began), New York (after 9/11), and more. Articles relating to these types of reconciliation-type approaches can be found at: http://africastories.usaid.gov/search_details.cfm?storyID=316&countryID=3&sectorID=0&yearID=5 and http://playbackcenter.org/Burundi_and_Angola.htm


Cross-cultural training programs
The ExcelL program has been used successfully to better integrate overseas students within societies of host countries. Some of the aspects of the program that participants regarded as being the most helpful included participation in role play, discovery and action-oriented learning and safety in having practice sessions prior to real-life implementation (Mak & Barker, 2004).


Appendix C

Self-Evaluation

Theory

I have commented extensively on Moreno's theory of psychodrama and group therapy techniques. I have shown how the theory developed in history and how it is used today. I have explained how a typical psychodrama session is constructed, and how it might run, including structure, participants, processes and intended outcomes. I have shown how psychodrama integrates with other therapies and with other fields outside the clinical arena, which also show how it is well related to the field of social psychology.

Research

I conducted extensive research on psychodrama and would have liked to include more examples of case studies which were particularly interesting to me, however, that was not the main aim of the essay or the essay question, and the word limit also restricted this. Therefore I gave some brief and relatively broad descriptions on how the technique (or related techniques) are being used with some links to websites for more information if required within the appendix.

Written Expression

I have included an abstract. Throughout the essay I have tried to keep the language and terminology clear, simple and easy to read.

I would like to put bookmark links into the body of the blog essay to link text to Appendices, however, I'm do not know how to do this on this blogger site (I can do it in Word but not here). I thought of separating the blog into separate pages, but thought the blog site may get messy with pages being out of order, so have kept it as one continuous post.

I have taken care with referencing in APA format, however, blogger has a habit of unformatting between editing and publishing posts, so it takes a lot of time to keep going back and forth correcting tiny formatting errors. Also, if a link appears in the referencing I have kept it in as this is an online document - if it was hard copy I would have taken out the underline and used black text only.

Excluding the abstract, appedices and references, I am within the word limit.

Online Engagement

There is a link to my online engagement on my main blog site. http://karensocialpsych.blogspot.com/2007/08/comments-on-others-blogs.html I have posted on several other people's blogs, responded to several polls and posted on my own blog, including embedding YouTube videos of role-play. I have also made extra comments within my own blog referring to my responses to other people's blogs - they are all contained with the same posting so have not been coming up as separate posts, as they have been added as edits to the first post on other blogs. I believe I have maintained a high level of online engagement. I think I deserve a 3rd green star....

Psychodrama: therapy session on Days Of Our Lives

A couple of youtube videos from Days of our Lives depicting some therapy sessions, using role-play:

Try to look past the big hair and goggle-eyes of the 'therapist' !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXQ2PbWjGM8



The blurb for this video is:

"Traumatized by Sam's death, Marlena seeks counseling from a colleague. Outstanding performance delivered by Deidre"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG0DoFGUpdQ



The blurb for this video is:

"After her death, Marlena says goodbye to her murdered twin sister Samantha through role-playing. Emmy worthy performance for Deidre Hall! "

Psychodrama and flash mobbing

From James' blog: http://7125-6666.blogspot.com/2007/10/flash-mobbing.html

"Street Theatre, Psychodrama and other forms of participatory theatre and performance art also seem to have some parallels and intersections with flash mobbing. Perhaps flash mobbing is just another form of interactive street theatre?"

This is an interesting connection I'd like to explore. It would be particularly interesting to include a phenomenon which is relatively new (maybe) and integrating with the fascination for modern technology - mobile phones, youtube, facebook etc.

Even though new styles of socialisation are taking place (such as online forums etc), flash mobbing seems to suggest that humans still need to get together in person, in groups to share common goals or ideas, even if the goal appears to be just getting some attention. Perhaps underneath, the goal of each individual is not just to fulfill the need to belong, but also the need to show other people, that they belong to a group of some kind - which is in itself a way of displaying social acceptance.

The bigger the group, the bigger the opportunities for word of mouth to spread to many more people - eg. 40 people each having 6-8 close friendships as well as larger numbers of acquaintances/colleagues - all could hear about the flash mob event - if the event is spectacular enough to get mentioned in the media - the people in the flash mob group may feel a touch of fame or at least importance, and certainly belonging.

However, as experienced by many seeking fame, you can be just as easily forgotten.
The interesting difference I think with flash mobbing, is that, even if the event gets media attention, the individual's are very unlikely to ever be identified - so the emphasis seems to be on group belonging and maybe doing something a little different, unexpected, spontaneous.

It could be an option for people seeking a 'safe' thrill as opposed to an individual who enjoys sky-diving to get a thrill. And a lot cheaper too.

So is flash mobbing just a cheap thrill?

Blog 2: thoughts on psychodrama

I'm using this blog facility to think aloud and to record my research into psychodrama - I would normally take notes and put them into a document to refer to privately, but in this new world of global sharing, I'll store them here instead.....

1. We have a lecture this week about the ExcelL program addressing the issue of inter-cultural relations especially for immigrants. I've had a look at the assigned reading (Mak and Barker, 2004) and noticed that the program involves role-play which seems to be particularly successful in this context - there is the opportunity to "show" as well as "tell". I may incorporate some of this into my blog on psychodrama.

2. I've found an interesting site about a technique called Playback which is essentially role-play. I initially came across this when looking into art therapies which interested me personally - I'm taking Creative Writing as another major in my double degree (psych/arts). The Playback website ( http://playbacknet.org/interplay/Previousissues/ ) has some interesting articles on places where the Playback practitioners have performed: Africa (between Tutsis and Hutus), Auschwitz (including people who were part of that horror), Macedonia (as the Balkan conflict began), New York (after 9/11), and more.

3. I've found a journal article on how role-play can be effectively used to improve relationships in the school classroom context. It mentions sociometry, sociodrama and the benefits of role-reversal. Article: Finding My Place: The Use of Sociometric Choice and Sociodrama for Building Community in the School Classroom.Authors: Zachariah, Miriam; Moreno, Regina
Source: Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama, & Sociometry; Winter2006

As I find the topic interesting personally, I risk reading, reading, reading and reading, and not actually writing......

Attitude Change Concept Map

Self-Assessment: Blog 1

Self-Assessment - Blog 1 Essay (K. Woods) Appendix B

1. Theory

There is a lot of theoretical literature on attitude change so I have chosen to focus on those most relevant to commercial advertising and public service announcements. Key terms are shown in Appendix A so that the readability of the essay is kept as simple as possible. The reader can gain more detail on social psychology theories by referring to the Appendix at their own convenience. I have shown my understanding of the theories by using examples where possible.

2. Research

I have used several research findings related to this topic, namely HIV/AIDS education, safe driving promotion and skin cancer awareness. These all relate to attempts at attitude change. I have shown that commercial advertisers are effective at persuading people to change attitudes and that the formula they use can be transferred to public service announcements. I have also shown that organisations benefit from measuring the effectiveness of their campaigns as it leads to better campaign designs in the future. It is not only psychologists who are researching social phenomena.

3. Written Expression

I conducted a readability test on my essay. The results were a little confusing: Readability: 33%
Ease: 21.4, Grade: 12, Words 1044 (not including appendices). Sentences per paragraph: 15

When checking manually, I worked out there are on average about 3-6 sentences per paragraph, not 15. Last paragraph on its own has readability score of 42%. I’m wondering if my use of bracketed text impacts on the readability score.

The APA referencing style is accurate (I think!).

I used concept mapping whilst I constructed my draft essay to help myself understand the relationships involved in attitude change such as intergroup and intragroup influences. This in turn helped to clarify my final concept map to be posted.

The style of my blog is simple and clearly presented. I felt that too many external links can distract from the readability of the essay. I’ve used headings and subheadings to break up the text into manageable chunks.

4. Online engagement

I have contributed online although not as much as I would prefer. There are two reasons for this.

1. Time constraints.
2. I don’t like to sit at the computer for extended periods of time. My eyes get very sore and my posture suffers especially when I'm tired. I also find it easy to go off on tangents when fixed to the computer for long periods of time – such as following links which take me away from the initial task. Also, I am enrolled in another unit which also requires a lot of online engagement which is increasing the amount of time I need to be at the computer.

Most of my online contributions can be found within my blog.

I need to explore all the links on the information pages as I was initially unaware that this appendix was required as part of the assessment. I did see somewhere that appendices are optional and I assumed it was referring to appendices we might choose to use as part of the essay rather than a separate assessment criteria. They are not pointed out as clearly as the requirement for a Concept Map, so I missed it.

Other

I included an appendix to detail specific theories more fully. I also included a link to the SunSmart skin cancer campaign as the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria have comprehensive reports on how they have set up campaigns, evaluated their effectiveness and then adapted future campaigns in response to those results.

Blog 1: Attitude Change (K.Woods)

Mass Media Gets It Right - SHOCK

Abstract

There have been many attempts at social change programs such as anti-smoking and safe-sex with various degrees of success and failure. Research into the factors which determine the success of attitude change programs have helped to design more effective campaigns which more clearly identify the target audience and the best approaches at reaching and influencing them. Strategies used by commercial advertisers have been incorporated into public service announcements with increasing effectiveness. Many of these strategies are based on social psychology theories.

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Commercial advertisers lead the way

It is generally agreed in research literature that the mass media is very good at raising awareness and providing information about particular social issues, but that it is not necessarily as successful at changing attitudes or behaviours (Bush & Boller, 1991). Commercial advertisers, however, seem very successful at persuading consumers to buy particular products. Governments are now using similar methods to advertisers when creating public service announcements (PSAs) in attempts at bringing about an attitude change.

Advertisers are aware that beliefs are resistant to change (belief perseverance) and so use various methods to persuade consumers to change their beliefs and attitudes. Many use likeable and credible sources to convey their messages (classical conditioning) (Bush & Boller, 1991; Smith, Bauman, McKenzie & Thomas, 2005). For example, an attractive movie star to promote beauty products or a chiropractor to promote an ergonomic piece of furniture.

They are also aware of the importance of context such as showing toy commercials on television during children’s peak viewing times. Governments now use similar techniques in their PSAs by using celebrities to promote their social issues and attempt to control context by avoiding conflicting messages (not showing a safe-sex message during a program which glorifies unsafe sex). However, they have limited control on when PSAs are aired as they are usually run during unsold airtime (Agha, 2002). The immediacy of context is also significant as there is evidence that safe-driving campaigns are more successful if they are aired on radio, rather than on TV, as drivers often listen to the radio in their cars (Gantz, 1990).

Extensive research has been done on measuring the effectiveness of public service campaigns which focus on health and safety issues (ACCV, 1999; Agha, 2002). These measuring tools shape future campaigns to increase effectiveness. Several factors were found to be successful in changing beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.

Main factors in successful attitude change programs

Although the type of campaign and the target audience need to be taken into account, in general, emotion-evoking visual messages via the mass media have been successful in increasing awareness and attitude change (ACCV, 1999). Emotions evoked can be upbeat and optimistic but in other incidences, ones of shock and fear can also be effective (such as graphic car crashes to promote the use of seatbelts) (Delaney, Lough, Wheland & Cameron, 2004). However, care needs to be taken to avoid causing overwhelming fear or anxiety which may make it hard for the individual to properly comprehend the intended message (Bush & Boller, 1991).

It has also been found that personal relevance is important (Cialdini, Petty & Cacioppo, 1981). The target audience needs to be able to relate to the social issue as well as to the messenger (Agha, 2002; Delaney et al., 2004). For example, the target audience in the early SunSmart campaign included parents and children, a simple message to cover up was used with the tag line “slip slop slap” and the messenger was a friendly cartoon character (ACCV, 1999).

Peers from an individual’s social group have proved very successful in advocating attitude change. In Zambia, for instance, adolescents were trained to educate other adolescents from the same social group about HIV and AIDS. This method, which involved role play of real-life scenarios, was much more effective at bringing about increased awareness, attitude and behaviour change, than a purely informative approach, such as factual brochures (Agha, 2002). Gantz (1990) refers to these peer-group messengers as “interpersonal sources of influence”. Personal relevance also extends to using real-life scenarios which the target audience has a real possibility of experiencing. These personal relevance factors encourage a feeling of trust, confidence and similarity (Cialdini et al, 1981). (See appendix A for details on how this relates to the psychological theories of: social comparison, moral inclusion, Maslow’s need for belonging, symbolic modelling, self presentation, conformity.)

Using themes of optimism have also proved successful where the individual feels able to achieve the suggested goal through his own actions – in other words, the individual does not feel overwhelmed and helpless by the size of the problem. Giving the individual a way to cope with the problem is important. Instead of just stating what not to do, an alternative behaviour should be suggested (ACCV, 1999; Agha 2002). Effective engagement encourages the individual to maintain the new attitude (APS, 2007). (See appendix A for how this relates to theories of: self efficacy, operant learning.)

Repeated exposure to the issue also helps to maintain the new attitude, so follow-up measures are useful such as giving feedback or reviewing progress via questionnaires or interviews. The individual is encouraged to think again about the social issue, their attitudes and their relating behaviours which should strengthen the new attitude (Delaney et al., 2004). (See appendix A for related theories: cognitive dissonance theory, duplex mind, choice, attitude polarisation, balance theory.)

Learn from the masters

In conclusion, creators of attitude change programs would benefit in using well-researched social psychological theories to design their campaigns for maximum effectiveness. Campaigns have increased effectiveness when the target audience has been clearly identified and the campaign content shaped to relate well to those people. The audience needs to be given a sense of cognitive dissonance between the issue and their relevant attitudes and behaviours towards it. This should cause them to either rationalise or adapt in order to eliminate the feeling of discomfort. If a desired behaviour which can resolve the imbalance is suggested, especially by a perceived credible source, then there is a fair likelihood of the individual changing their attitude and subsequent behaviour. Opportunities for reflection on the issue will help to maintain new attitudes and behaviours. Advertisers in the mass media have been getting it right for some time and have provided a workable formula for successful attitude change programs.

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Appendix A

Relevant Social Psychology Theories
In Attitude Change Programs
The Drive for Consistency*

Social Comparison, Symbolic Modelling, Self-Efficacy:
In the AIDS/HIV example in Zambia, peer education includes trained adolescent leaders, who are of similar age and status to the target audience (adolescents) and so share similar attitudes and values. They take factually correct information and personalize it for the adolescent audience. They reinforce positive normative beliefs and enhance adolescent self-efficacy. In other words, they show that individuals can take preventative measures to avoid infection without fearing to appear old-fashioned or boring.

Moral Inclusion, Conformity and Maslow’s Need to Belong:
Peers are considered as ingroup members so there is already a sense of trust. People tend to desire to belong to a group which encourages conforming to ingroup norms. Therefore, people can be influenced by ingroup peers moreso than outgroup members.

Self Presentation and Hypocrisy Induction:
People prefer to maintain a good reputation in the eyes of others. This encourages prosocial behaviour especially if the person can be identified in connection with their behaviours. People tend to be less selfish when they can be held accountable. They prefer to be seen as having consistency between their attitudes and behaviours – in other words, to be seen to practice what they preach.

Operant learning:
If people are rewarded for exhibiting certain behaviours, they are more likely to continue the behaviour. This also includes observing others being rewarded for certain behaviours. The reward does not have to be material. It can be an internal reward, such as feeling good about oneself, and comparing well to similar others.

Cognitive Dissonance, Balance Theory and the Duplex Mind:
When the automatic system finds inconsistency regarding attitudes, such as implicit vs explicit, and behaviours, the conscious system tries to resolve the feeling of discomfort by rationalising one’s existing attitudes and behaviours or by changing them. The mind drives to maintain balance between these dual attitudes and behaviours.

Choice:
Choice forces people to review their attitudes which may reveal inconsistencies, which would then need to be rationalised or changed. For example, legislation such as wearing a seatbelt may force people to change their behaviour to avoid getting into trouble, but it may not change their attitude towards the safety issue. However, provocative video footage of ordinary people being seriously injured in a car crash may influence a person’s attitude towards safety. They would have to rationalise risking injury to themselves or another person by choosing not to wear a seatbelt.

Attitude polarization:
Attitudes strengthen the more a person thinks about them, so asking them to reflect on or review their attitudes on particular issues, can make their attitudes in these areas more extreme. This is particularly useful if an attitude change program has been successful in gaining the desired attitude and behaviour. The attitude will be more enduring.

*Baumeister & Bushman (2008) was referred to for some of these concepts.

Link to Attitude Change Concept Map: http://karensocialpsych.blogspot.com/2007/09/attitude-change-concept-map.html

Link to SunSmart skin cancer awareness campaigns:
http://www.sunsmart.com.au/browse.asp?ContainerID=campaigns_advertising

Appendix B Self-Assessment can be accessed from this link:

http://karensocialpsych.blogspot.com/2007/09/self-assessment-blog-1.html

References

Agha, S. (2002). Peer Intervention on Sexual Health in Zambia. AIDS Education and Prevention, 14(4), pp.269-281.

Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria (1999). Sunsmart Evaluation Studies No.6. The ACCV's Skin Cancer Control Program 1996/1997 and 1997/1998 and Related Research and Evaluation.

APS (2007). Greenwashing, spin, and climate change porn. Article by the National Office Public Interest team. InPsych, 29(4), The Australian Psychological Society Ltd: VIC.

Bush, A.J. & Boller, G.W. (1991). Rethinking the role of television advertising during health crises: A rhetorical analysis of the Federal AIDS campaigns. Journal of Advertising, 20(1), pp.28-37.

Baumeister, R.F. & Bushman, B.J. (2008). Social Psychology and Human Nature. Thomson Wadsworth: Belmont, CA.

Cialdini, R.B.; Petty, R.E.; Cacioppo, J.T. (1981). Attitude and Attitude Change. Annual Review of Psychology, 32, p357-404.

Delaney, A., Lough, B., Whelan, M. & Cameron, M. (2004). A Review of Mass Media Campaigns in Road Safety. Report No.220. Monash University Accident Research Centre.

Gantz W., Fitzmaurice, M., Yoo, E. (1990). Seat Belt Campaigns and Buckling Up: Do the Media Make a Difference? Health Communication, 2(1), pp.1-12, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.

Smith, B.J., Bauman, A.E., McKenzie J. & Thomas, M. (2005). Awareness of message source and its association with the impacts of sun protection campaigns in Australia. Health Education, 105(1), pp.42 – 52, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.