Public opinion determines winners and losers
By Gerald Sherman
In America, we have the freedom of making our own decisions about what food we buy, what automobiles we drive, which political candidates we select and other day-to-day decisions. These choices are often determined by public opinion.
Consumer purchasing decisions are also guided by what the consumer thinks they need or want. Political choices, too, are based on our needs and wants. Public opinion of what is and isn’t popular is a driving force in shaping our decisions.
The media, social media, and the Internet play a major factor in influencing us. Society and these communication entities constantly work off each other through complex information sharing designed to change public opinion.
Understanding how public opinion is shaped is important if you are looking to influence public opinion and create positive recognition. The effects of public opinion can determine the success or failure of a particular situation. Analyzing the factors that shape public opinion and exploring the ways to improve it, can work to change the public image of the product, service and even influence a political decision. The ability to comprehend what comprises communication’s role and a definition of the various types and categories of media is essential if you are to get your message across.
Hadley Cantril was a prolific 1940s sociologist and public opinion researcher. His research and writing, which identified numerous key laws about public opinion and what shapes it, have significant relevance to public relations.
In his 1951 book, “Public Opinion,” which he co-edited with Mildred Strunk, Cantril states that public opinion is influenced by actions and events rather than by words. It is thus highly sensitive to important public events, such as changes in politics and economics, shifts in social values and customs, or occurrences—good or bad—that affect the public at large.
These events can take place overnight, or stretch over a period of years. Whereas events of sudden and unusual magnitude can make public opinion swing from one extreme to another temporarily, changes in public opinion take time to cement; public opinion requires time to stabilize, during which the public has the chance to digest the event and evaluate it with a deeper perspective.
According to Cantril, public opinion does not anticipate or plan for crises and emergencies—it merely reacts to them after the fact (Cantril & Strunk, 1951).
At the center of Cantril’s theory is the assumption that the core of public opinion is based on individual self-interest. Events, actions, or other stimuli are important to the public to the degree that they affect the interests of the individual or group; an event must concern the self-interest of the individuals to evoke an opinion. In other words, people in general do not care about events or actions that do not have implications on their personal life.
Public opinion, therefore, does not arouse people unless they feel their self-interest is at stake; people will lose interest in the event or issue after some time unless they are reminded about its effects on their self-interest. Initiatives aimed at shaping public opinion, then, should include elements that demonstrate to the public how these initiatives affect their lives as well as elements that create a sense of timely relevance (Fashion Public Relations, Sherman & Perlman, 2010).
Once again, understanding the moods and behaviors of others, empathy, has triumphed in the political environment as it will in our everyday lives.
*Excerpts from the book, Fashion Public Relations, Gerald J. Sherman & Sar S. Perlman. Fairchild Books, Division of Conde Nast Publications, (2010)
Gerald J. Sherman, Sherman & Perlman LLC, Integrated Marketing is a Boca Raton based marketing consultant and public relations person has written several books and articles on these subjects. http://www.shermanperlman.com
