The character and origins of public opinion, the factors that make up the individual mind and the group mind must be understood if the profession of public relations counsel is to be intelligently practiced and its functions and possibilities accurately1 estimated. Society must understand the fundamental character of the work he is doing, if for no other reason than its own welfare.
The public relations counsel works with that vague, little-understood, indefinite material called public opinion.
Public opinion is a term describing an ill-defined, mercurial2 and changeable group of individual judgments4. Public opinion is the aggregate5 result of individual opinions—now uniform, now conflicting—of the men and women who make up society or any group of society. In order to understand public opinion, one must go back to the individual who makes up the group.
The mental equipment of the average individual consists of a mass of judgments on most of
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the subjects which touch his daily physical or mental life. These judgments are the tools of his daily being and yet they are his judgments, not on a basis of research and logical deduction7, but for the most part dogmatic expressions accepted on the authority of his parents, his teachers, his church, and of his social, his economic and other leaders.
The public relations counsel must understand the social implications of an individual’s thoughts and actions. Is it, for example, purely8 an accident that a man belongs to one church rather than another or to any church at all? Is it an accident that makes Boston women prefer brown eggs and New York women white eggs? What are the factors that work in favor of conversion9 of a man from one political party to another or from one type of food to another?
Why do certain communities resist the prohibition10 law—why do others abide11 by it? Why is it difficult to start a new party movement—or to fight cancer? Why is it difficult to fight for sex education? Why does the free trader denounce protectionism, and vice12 versa?
If we had to form our own judgments on every matter, we should all have to find out many things for ourselves which we now take for granted. We should not cook our food or live in houses—in fact, we should revert13 to primitive14 living.
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The public relations counsel must deal with the fact that persons who have little knowledge of a subject almost invariably form definite and positive judgments upon that subject.
“If we examine the mental furniture of the average man,” says William Trotter, the author of a comprehensive study of the social psychology15 of the individual,4 “we shall find it made up of a vast number of judgments of a very precise kind upon subjects of very great variety, complexity16, and difficulty. He will have fairly settled views upon the origin and nature of the universe, and upon what he will probably call its meaning; he will have conclusions as to what is to happen to him at death and after, as to what is and what should be the basis of conduct. He will know how the country should be governed, and why it is going to the dogs, why this piece of legislation is good and that bad. He will have strong views upon military and naval17 strategy, the principles of taxation18, the use of alcohol and vaccination19, the treatment of influenza20, the prevention of hydrophobia, upon municipal trading, the teaching of Greek, upon what is permissible21 in art, satisfactory in literature, and hopeful in science.
“The bulk of such opinions must necessarily
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be without rational basis, since many of them are concerned with problems admitted by the expert to be still unsolved, while as to the rest it is clear that the training and experience of no average man can qualify him to have any opinion upon them at all. The rational method adequately used would have told him that on the great majority of these questions there could be for him but one attitude—that of suspended judgment3.”
The reader will recall from his own experience an almost infinite number of instances in which the amateur has been fully22 prepared to deliver expert advice and to give final judgment in matters upon which his ignorance is patent to every one except himself.
In the Middle Ages, society was convinced that there were witches. People were so positive that they burned people whom they suspected of witchcraft23. To-day there is an equal number of people who believe just as firmly, one way or the other, about spiritualism and spirits. They do not burn mediums. But people who have made no research of the subject pass strong denunciatory judgments. Others, no better informed, consider mediums divinely inspired. Not so long ago every intelligent man knew that the world was flat. To-day the average man has a belief just as firm and unknowing in the mysterious
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force which he has heard called atomic energy.
It is axiomatic24 that men who know little are often intolerant of a point of view that is contrary to their own. The bitterness that has been brought about by arguments on public questions is proverbial. Lovers have been parted by bitter quarrels on theories of pacificism or militarism; and when an argument upon an abstract question engages opponents they often desert the main line of argument in order to abuse each other.
How often this is true can be seen from the congressional records of controversies25 in which the personal attack supersedes26 logic6. In a recent fight against the proposed tariff27 measures, a protagonist28 of protection published long vindictive29 statements, in which he tried to confound the character and the disinterestedness30 of his opponents. Logically his discussion should have been based only upon the sound economic, social and political value of the bill as presented.
A hundred leading American bankers, business men, professional men and economists31 united in public disapproval32 of this plan. They stated their opinion that the “American” Valuation Plan, as it was called, would endanger the prosperity of the country, that it would be inimical to our foreign relations and that it would injure the welfare of every country with whom our commercial and industrial ties were at all close.
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This group was a broadly representative group of men and women, yet the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee accused all these people of acting33 upon motives34 of personal gain and lack of patriotism35. Prejudice superseded36 logic.
Intolerance is almost inevitably37 accompanied by a natural and true inability to comprehend or make allowance for opposite points of view. The skilled scientist who may be receptive to any promising38 suggestion in his own field may outside of his own field be found quite unwilling39 to make any attempt at understanding a point of view contrary to his own. In politics, for example, his understanding of the problem may be fragmentary, yet he will enter excitedly into discussions on bonus and ship subsidy40, of which he has made no study. We find here with significant uniformity what one psychologist has called “logic-proof compartments41.”
The logic-proof compartment42 has always been with us. Scientists have lost their lives through refusing to see flaws in their theories. Intelligent mothers give food to their babies that they would manifestly forbid other mothers to give their children. Especially significant is the tendency of races to maintain religious beliefs and customs long after these have lost their meaning. Dietary laws, hygienic laws, even laws based
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upon geographical43 conditions that have been changed for more than a thousand years are still maintained in the logic-proof compartment of dogmatic adherence44. There is a story that certain missionaries45 give money to heathen at the time of conversion and that the heathen, having got their money, bathe away their conversion in sacred streams.
The characteristic of the human mind to adhere to its beliefs is excellently summarized in the volume by Mr. Trotter to which reference has been made before. “It is clear,” says Mr. Trotter,5 “at the outset that these beliefs are invariably regarded as rational and defended as such, while the position of one who holds contrary views is held to be obviously unreasonable46.
“The religious man accuses the atheist47 of being shallow and irrational48, and is met by a similar reply. To the Conservative the amazing thing about the Liberal is his incapacity to see reason and accept the only possible solution of public problems. Examination reveals the fact that the differences are not due to the commission of the mere49 mechanical fallacies of logic, since these are easily avoided, even by the politician, and since there is no reason to believe that one party in such controversies is less logical than
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the other. The difference is due rather to the fundamental assumptions of the antagonists50 being hostile, and these assumptions are derived51 from herd52-suggestions; to the Liberal certain basal conceptions have acquired the quality of instinctive53 truth, have become a priori syntheses, because of the accumulated suggestions to which he has been exposed; and a similar explanation applies to the atheist, the Christian54, and the Conservative. Each, it is important to remember, finds in consequence the rationality of his position flawless and is quite incapable55 of detecting in it the fallacies which are obvious to his opponent, to whom that particular series of assumptions has not been rendered acceptable by herd suggestion.”
Thus the public relations counsel has to consider the a priori judgment of any public he deals with before counseling any step that would modify those things in which the public has an established belief.
It is seldom effective to call names or to attempt to discredit56 the beliefs themselves. The counsel on public relations, after examination of the sources of established beliefs, must either discredit the old authorities or create new authorities by making articulate a mass opinion against the old belief or in favor of the new.
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1
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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mercurial
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| adj.善变的，活泼的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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aggregate
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| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
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logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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8
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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revert
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| v.恢复，复归，回到 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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complexity
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| n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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vaccination
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| n.接种疫苗，种痘 | |
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influenza
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| n.流行性感冒，流感 | |
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permissible
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| adj.可允许的，许可的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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witchcraft
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| n.魔法，巫术 | |
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axiomatic
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| adj.不需证明的，不言自明的 | |
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controversies
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| 争论 | |
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supersedes
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| 取代，接替( supersede的第三人称单数 ) | |
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tariff
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| n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表 | |
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protagonist
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| n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公 | |
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vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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disinterestedness
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31
economists
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| n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 ) | |
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disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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36
superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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37
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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38
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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subsidy
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| n.补助金，津贴 | |
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41
compartments
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| n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层 | |
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compartment
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| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
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43
geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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44
adherence
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| n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着 | |
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45
missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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46
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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47
atheist
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| n.无神论者 | |
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48
irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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49
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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50
antagonists
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| 对立[对抗] 者，对手，敌手( antagonist的名词复数 )； 对抗肌； 对抗药 | |
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51
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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52
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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53
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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54
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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55
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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56
discredit
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| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
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