How does the tobacco industry example fit into our understanding of impression management?

Week 1 – Webliography Assignment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) This assignment is worth up to 50 points and involves researching and writing an entry for the Webliography section of our course. The assignment references the following TCOs: • TCO1 as it applies to cause-and-effect research in social psychology • TCO 3 as it applies to the effects of a psychological disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that is caused by a person’s experiencing or observing an extremely psychologically troubling event involving real or threatened death or significant injury to self and/or others. There are many situations and sometimes predisposing personal mental conditions that may trigger the development of PTSD Your task in this assignment is to use the Internet to find and describe at least one form of natural disaster as a cause of PTSD. Among natural disasters are hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes and tsunamis.

You will be working with the independent variables of PTSD. Here is the basic causal proposition: Xs (Causes of PTSD)—————-Y (Development of PTSD) Independent variables————— Dependent variable Process: 1 Using the Internet locate an article that includes a discussion of natural disasters as causes of PTSD; 2 Compose a summary of the contents of the article that includes the following information: a A general description of the contents of the article b A description of least two specific items from the article c Identification of the independent and dependent variable 3 Prepare your article for Webliography using one of the following processes: a write your descriptive text as a Word document that you copy and paste into Webliography OR b type your descriptive text straight into Webliography 4 To add your entry to Webliography, use this process: a click on Webliography in the gray/white bar in the blue space at the top of the course website – it is the last component on the right side of the bar b click on “Add New Entry” c type in the title of your entry and the URL d add your text e click on “Add Entry” Note: You cannot edit your entry once you have submitted it. If you want to change your entry simply submit the new version. Your instructor will know to grade the newest article and will disregard the earlier version Expectations: • Your entry will have a working URL that goes directly to the article and does not require drilling down (navigating) through layers of a website • You will write about a natural cause or causes of PTSD, NOT the symptoms of this disorder • Do not use an article that triggers advertising • A Webliography entry that is sufficiently informative requires about 150 words • Your entry is free of spelling and grammatical errors Grading: • 30 points for the informational quality of your entry • 15 points for clear and orderly presentation of your content points for freedom from spelling and grammar errors

Week 4 Assignment

Critical Thinking Exercise – Spin Doctoring

This assignment is worth up to 80 points and references TCO 4 as it applies to impression management and TCO 6 as it applies to the role of social influence in shaping attitudes and behaviors.  We will apply course concepts from Myers Chapter 7 (Persuasion) to the following case:

Complete the first of two critical thinking exercises. The focus of the assignment is on spin doctoring, a particular form of impression management that is intended to divert public attention from a troublesome issue to something noncontroversial. The assignment requires you to apply course concepts in order to explain spin doctoring.

Make sure to review these guidelines to complete this assignment: Spin Doctoring Guidelines.

You will find a Webliography entry entitled “Understanding Spin Doctoring” to introduce you to this ethically problematic genre of persuasion.

Case.  Spin doctoring is form of impression management that has been in the repertoire of public relations practitioners for four decades.  The term refers to the tactic of shifting the focus off of the negative and harmful aspects of something by substituting another issue that has positive connotations.  Spin doctors change the terms of public perception and debate using the mass media, which today includes blogs and social media like Facebook.  Spin doctoring is an international phenomenon the serves the interests of organizations in every sector of society.

The tobacco industry is considered to be the classic case of spin doctoring.  After 1966 when the Surgeon General of the U.S. pronounced that cigarette packages must carry a health warning, the tobacco industry found a way to offset the damaging publicity by sponsoring sports and arts events and giving grants for community development.  By de-emphasizing the dangers of smoking and emphasizing the positive contributions being made to community life, Big Tobacco trivialized the health problems and turned attention instead to its displays of corporate social responsibility.

A contemporary example of spin doctoring relates to the claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which was the original rationale for the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.  When the intelligence about weapons of mass destruction proved to be faulty, the debate was quickly and skillfully shifted by spin doctors to a humanitarian argument that the Iraqi people must be freed from the clutches Saddam Hussein the ruthless dictator.  While no evidence of weapons of mass destruction could be found, mass graves of Iraqi citizens killed at the behest of Saddam Hussein could be found and thus, legitimate the invasion.

The debate over climate change and global warming is very similar in some ways to the tobacco example because it involves the efforts of hydrocarbons producers to debunk the hypothesis that global warming is primarily caused by the high levels of CO2 emissions associated with the consumption of fossil fuels.  By spinning the argument away from CO2 emissions towards touting how technology is producing cleaner, greener fuels, the hydrocarbon industry gives the appearance of being environmentally responsible at a time when the pressure from environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the Suzuki Foundation, and high-profile environmentalists like Al Gore cannot be denied.

Your Assignment:  Use critical thinking to analyze the following three questions relating to aspects of persuasion.  Specifically utilized the particular course concept or concepts stated in each question.

1. Which paths(s) to persuasion is/are present in the global warming case?
2. How does the tobacco industry example fit into our understanding of impression management?
3. Is spin doctoring the same as propaganda or is it fundamentally different? Address the weapons of mass destruction case in your answer.

Expectations

• You will address each of the required questions in essay form, explaining the reasoning behind your answer and identifying the course concept(s) explicitly;
• You will use subheadings so that each question clearly occupies its own section of the paper;
• Your name will appear on the first page of your paper;
• You will use APA citations where appropriate in the text and include a References Cited section at the end of your paper
• You will spell and grammar check your paper
• There is no set length for your paper although at least 500 words will likely to be needed to earn a high mark.

Grading:

• 20  points per question for quality of your answer to each of the required questions (total  60 points)
• 15 points for orderly presentation in subsections
• 5 points for freedom from spelling and grammar errors