Influencing Public Behavior: Takeaways From Public Communication Scholarship

Communication is at the center of being human, how we interact with one another, and how we understand the world around us. Consequently, communication is recognized as a central social process within the public sphere, and effective communication is on the forefront of efforts to inform and influence public behaviors pertaining to health, social, safety, environmental, and other issues.

Effective communication is considered a complex and fragile human process which requires strategic design, careful monitoring, and responsive adaptation (Kreps & Neuhauser, 2010). The strategic planning of communication efforts to change population behaviors is often referred to as public communication campaigns. Similar to USG strategic communication (SC), these campaigns are designed to influence behavior in large audiences within a specified timeframe using an organized set of communication activities and featuring a variety of mediated messages.