CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATION AND ATTITUDE CHANGE: A MULTIDIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS1

The processes by which political attitude changes occur have been examined extensively from a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives. In this study, the authors attempt to extend the traditional balance formulation to a continuously-scaled least-squares paradigm in which change occurs as a function of accumulated information. A longitudinal tracking of the changes in attitude toward parties, candidates, and issues is used to make predictions about subsequent attitudes and consequent voting behavior. Possible communicative influences from a political campaign are explored with regard to their impact on changes in concept relations. Analysis of political changes hypotheses and a critical examination of the methodology are used as the basis for suggesting improvements in campaign communication research.     

NEO-CONFUCIANISM, SAGEHOOD AND THE RELIGIOUS DIMENSION

The figure of the sage (sheng/sheng jen) ^a has occupied a position of paramount importance in the Confucian tradition. Such sages in classical Confucianism were culture heroes and kings, each a paradigm of virtue and model for emulation. There is a sense, however, in which these sages were remote and distant; most were far removed in time. The virtues of such sages also seem strangely removed from the capabilities of the vast majority of persons. Mencius can express the optimistic stance that anyone is capable of becoming a Yao^b or Shun^c,1 but it seems far more accurate to describe this as an ideal rather than a practical goal of cultivation and learning.