Carl Hovland

Carl Iver Hovland ( born June 12, 1912 in Chicago, Illinois, † April 16, 1961 in New Haven, Connecticut ) was an American psychologist. He was one of the first representatives of the psychologically oriented media effects research.

Life

Hovland earned his doctorate in 1936 at Yale University as a doctor of philosophy. After a few years of working on the faculty there for psychology, he conducted research during the Second World War for the U.S. Army. Hovland examined the effect of military films on the behavior and attitude of soldiers. The aim of this research was to find out to what extent films with military content have an impact on the morale of the soldiers and to whether any adjustments while these people provoked and controlled. Furthermore described by Hovland studies on the effect of Frank Capra's Why We Fight documentary the Sleeper Effect.

After the Second World War Hovland returned to Yale and worked there the Yale approach to attitude change, which describes the conditions of a successful persuasive communication.