The Influence of Source Credibility on Communication Effectiveness
1951/01/01 by Carl I. Hovland, Walter Weiss · 3,440 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cognitive psychology #Communication in Education and Healthcare #Credibility #Epistemology #Forgetting #Law #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Philosophy #Political science #Psychology #Skepticism #Social psychology #Source credibility
paper · doi:10.1086/266350
published in Public Opinion Quarterly 15(4), 635 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 1951/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract
In a new test of the process of forgetting, the authors found that subjects, at the time of exposure, discounted material from “untrustworthy” sources. In time, however, the subjects tended to disassociate the content and the source with the result that the original scepticism faded and the “untrustworthy” material was accepted. Lies, in fact, seemed to be remembered better than truths.
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