A Study On Persuasion And Communication Of College Students' Ideological And Political Education

An important criterion for measuring the effectiveness of ideological and political education in university is the students’conscious acceptance under the influence of educators’effective persuasion. As educators, we should pay attention to the logical relationship between the educators’persuasion and the students’acceptance. Moreover, we should carefully analyze the communicative process from the "input" persuasion to the "output" acceptance and its essential elements. Only in this way can the contents, formats and activities of ideological and political education in university be most effective.As an interdisciplinary study of education and communication, educational communication is a kind of communicative activity which aims at cultivation and training. Its research object is the process of education; while its theoretical framework comes from the study of communication. It adopts the viewpoint and basic theories of communication in order to analyze the process of education. Classified according to the function of educational communication, ideological and political education is a form of educational communication for the purpose of successful persuasion. As a persuasive communication, ideological and political education runs through the whole process of individual cognition, emotional attitude and behavior choice. In other words, educators communicate certain ideologies, political views and moral principles to students through formal or informal channels in order to influence their ideas, attitudes, values and behaviors in a purposeful and organized manner. Thus, educators can persuade students to consciously form a kind of activity which meets the social needs.The "persuasion communication" in this study disposes of its limits as traditional means of education. Instead, from the viewpoint of educational effectiveness, it is regarded as a form of educational communication. This study systematically analyzes ideological and political education of university students and reflects on its process. The research target of this study is contemporary university students. In the view of communication and other related theories in psychology, sociology and organizational behavior, this study integrates the audience-centered theory into the whole process of persuasion in university ideological and political education. Focusing on persuasion and based on acceptance, this research will find vivid individuals in ideological and political education. The analysis departs from practical needs of university students and follows the central pattern of internalized cognition, individual attitude and practical action. In order to systematically understand and effectively integrate all steps in this educational process, this dissertation discusses the structure, elements, process, mechanism and environment of effective persuasion in ideological and political education, which tries to internalize the contents of education into students’values and promote individually conscious actions through the guidance in practice and the influence of the environment. It is only in this way that the research on the effectiveness of ideological and political education can get improved and the practice in reality strengthened.This research focuses on four questions. The first is how to call attention, which means how to draw students’attention to the core values in today’s information era and cultural diversity, and how to predict students’choice and clear up their misunderstandings. The second question is how to gain effective acceptance, which aims at the process of individual persuasion. Based on students’existing knowledge and values, the process is the transformation from certain ideas, political views and moral rules into individual consciousness or behavior motive. On the one hand it is the change of attitude, either in orientation or degree; on the other hand it is the transformation between attitude and action, i.e. the progress from cognition to emotion, from determination to belief and behavior. The third question is how to create certain atmosphere, which means the formation of group persuasion and social persuasion. Group communication develops collective influence which is more active, positive and sustained. It is a further discussion of the interaction between individual behavior and organizational behavior, especially the crucial factor and mechanism of collective ritual in terms of its positive influence on individual and its formative power over certain atmosphere in the organization. Borrowing and summarizing the mechanism of mass communication’s influence over students’values, this study analyzes social thoughts as an example and discusses the strategies and methods for guiding public opinion. The forth question is how to form self-conscious behavior. Good subsequent behavior is one of hallmarks of effective persuasion. In other words, the result of education should become the beginning of students’self-education. Students should enjoy constant judgment on internalized values and establish rational consciousness in their behaviors. This should not only be the ultimate goal of education, but also run through the whole process of education as principles and demands in varying stages and aspects.This dissertation can be divided into three parts or five chapters.In the first part, it is the theoretical framework of persuasion in ideological and political education. University ideological and political education at present is merely solo expression of certain ideas, but students are not willing to accept. After summarizing this status quo and its reason, this study clarifies modern society’s new demand for ideological and political education in university. Therefore, here comes the essential concept of this dissertation which is the definition and analysis of persuasion in ideological and political education in university.The second part depicts the history of persuasive practice both in Western and Chinese ideological education. In terms of historical review, it is a comparison between the socialization of Western political patterns and ideological and political education in China. On the one hand, it tries to discover a point of departure in this comparison; on the other hand, it summarizes successful experiences in the past in order to provide historical evidence for the improvement of modern education.The third part is the main body of this research which explores basic elements, educational process and its mechanism in order to answers the practical question how to realize effective persuasion in ideological and political education of university student. First of all, from the viewpoint of communication and social psychology, this dissertation illustrates in detail the framework of persuasive process in ideological and political education. Secondly, further discussion lies in three categories, namely the individual, the group and the society. Under the micro-category, it applies methods in social psychology to discuss common process and mechanism of the formation and internalization of individual attitude; under the medium category, with the help of organizational communication and organizational behavior, it analyzes the interaction between individual and organization; under the macro-category, borrowing analytical approach in mass communication and summarizing the mechanism of social thoughts’influence over students’values, it discusses the strategies and methods for guiding public opinion. In the end, it thoroughly observes the mechanism of effective persuasion in ideological and political education of university student and its effect, and examines the combination of relevant factors in the educational process and the interrelated and coordinated operation of essential elements under three categories, i.e. the individual, the group and the society.