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Everything about Source credibility

Area of research

Source credibility is "a term commonly used to imply a communicator's positive characteristics that affect the receiver's acceptance of a message." Academic studies of this topic began in the 20th century and were given a special emphasis during World War II, when the US government sought to use propaganda to influence public opinion in support of the war effort. Psychologist Carl Hovland and his colleagues worked at the War Department upon this during the 1940s and then continued experimental studies at Yale University. They built upon the work of researchers in the first half of the 20th century who had developed a Source-Message-Channel-Receiver model of communication and, with Muzafer Sherif, developed this as part of their theories of persuasion and social judgement. Wikipedia →

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

  1. Read the overview: Source credibilityA 5-minute orientation
  2. Skim a recent paper: News bylines and perceived AI authorship: Effects on source and message credibilityInfluential work since 2022
  3. Pick up a classic book: Journalism and Use of Social MediaThe most-reprinted book on the subject
  4. Read the landmark paper: The Influence of Source Credibility on Communication EffectivenessCited 2,558 times
  5. Go sideways: CredibilityA closely related topic
  6. Go sideways: Yale attitude change approachA closely related topic

📖 Definitions

No dictionary entry for this exact phrase.

🗂️ The subject at a glance

  1. Overview
  2. Dimensions
  3. Lateral reading
  4. Dynamics
  5. Five bases of power
  6. In interpersonal relationships
  7. Source factors
  8. In politics
  9. Media credibility
  10. Additional predictors of media credibility
  11. The Internet
  12. Popular culture

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

🆕 Influential since 2022

📚 Books worth reading

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics