History of diffusion
1890s - Tarde (French)
why are only 10% of ideas adopted?
psychological attributes of adopters
1930s -- Pemberton (U.S.)
discovered general pattern of adoption
sociological level -- "chance" factors
Background
Land-grant institutions
primarily agricultural colleges
[what is DU? -- liberal arts, research, or "ag"]
Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Michigan, CU, KU, Iowa.
Iowa
diffusion of hybrid corn ("sterile")
Ryan and Gross (Iowa - 1940s)
Method
interviews with 259 farmers
Findings
first heard - salespeople
most influential - neighbors
adoption - test plot, gradual [Show me]
"lag" time - 5 or 6 years
Rogers (Iowa)
stages
awareness - learns of innovation (mass)
interest - arousal of curiosity
evaluation - "mental trial"
trial - small scale "test drive"
adoption - the money is spent!
types of people -
innovators - adoption based on media
early adopters - contact with innovators
majority - contact with early adopters
laggards - skeptical, when it's "proven"
examples:
solar, PCs, CD players, videodiscs
other factors affecting adoption
rate of adoption
relative advantage - better than others
compatibility - consistent with needs
complexity - ease of understanding, use
trialability - limited basis
observability - visible
people
homophile - similar
heterophile - different
use of change agents
high education, heterophilous
make use of local opinion leaders who are more homophilous
applications:
marketing
health campaigns
Return to Mass Media effects syllabus
On to lecture #7