Theories Behin PR, Exercise

Social Learning Theory

Who do children model, who do teenagers model, who do adults model?

Children will often model parents and children’s characters which are on television and or books.
Teenagers model most other teenagers. Often teenagers will also model celebrities from different fields e.g. sports, rock stars and movie starts. Adults also tend to model those who have similar interests or people they share certain commonalities with.

What are the differences? How would you alter the way you communicate to children versus adults based on this theory?

When communicating with children, I would endeavour to keep information simple, interesting and have lots of demonstration so that the child would learn by observation. Most information should be communicated via television during hours that children are watching.
Communication with adults needs to adapt the positive communication style, where examples are set and over time behaviours changed. Information should be disseminated via all means of communication e.g. television, radio and newspaper.

Exchange Theory

Think about your ‘relationship’ with a bank or a gym for example. Have you ever left one or joined a new one? Discuss in context of social exchange theory.

I was a customer of a particular telecommunications company. The cost to service ratio was completely un-balanced. My relationship with this company became tarnished pretty quickly as I did not feel I was receiving the respect I deserved from staff. I went on to source the services of another provider which I had used before knowing that the relationship would be a better with them. The cost to service ratio is much better now.

Hierarchy of Effects Theory

Think about this theory: do you agree? Is this the process you go through before you ‘act’? Does action always follow an attitude change or can it be the reverse?

To a certain degree I do agree with this theory, depending on what the situation is I think that Action and Attitude Change can be reversed.

Agenda Setting Theory

Does the public drive what news editors and journalists include in the news and the order in which it appears or do journalists and news editors’ decisions about what makes news determine what we think and talk about and rate as important?

The media does have a big influence on the way we view certain situations and what we deem as important. Ultimately journalists and editors have full control over emphasis and importance, however, this would only be gained through research and analyses of current public interest.

Semiotics

Can you think of some examples where images/words/symbols that make sense in a western culture but not in another culture?

The red ribbon, World Aids Day
The White Ribbon, Raising awareness of violence against women
Coloured jelly babies, fight against diabetes
The colour red in Asian culture means prosperity?

Grunig and Hunt’s four models of PR

Which model should you aspire to in your modern-day PR professional life?

Depending on the situation and what the desired outcome is would determine which model would apply. However, I am more inclined to predominately work with Model 4: Two-way symmetric model.