Carl Hovland, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Carl Hovland

American psychologist

Date of Birth: 12-Jun-1912

Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Date of Death: 16-Apr-1961

Profession: psychologist, university teacher

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Carl Iver Hovland (June 12, 1912 – April 16, 1961) was a psychologist working primarily at Yale University and for the US Army during World War II who studied attitude change and persuasion.
He first reported the sleeper effect after studying the effects of the Frank Capra's propaganda film Why We Fight on soldiers in the Army.
In later studies on this subject, Hovland collaborated with Irving Janis who would later become famous for his theory of groupthink.
Hovland also developed social judgment theory of attitude change.
Carl Hovland thought that the ability of someone to resist persuasion by a certain group depended on your degree of belonging to the group. With the advent of government propaganda in support of the United States’ participation in World War II, the artifacts worth investigating helped with increase of persuasive communication with intent to affect behavior, attitude, and values.
These artifacts had a remarkable amount of money invested into them, however, were they effective? This concept of effectiveness and affecting change within individuals, interpersonal relations, and persuasion are exactly what Hovland was interested in.
Carl Hovland's contributions to the field of communications were three-fold.
First, he emphasized micro-level analysis, next he was interested in all facets of interpersonal communication, and finally he revolutionized persuasive research.