Inoculation effect - Definition and Overview

• Inoculation effect, when used in communication refer to a communication strategy of preparing your audience to expect to hear an opposing argument in the future. e.g. A Catholic priest will tend to say that the devil is going to tell you that the use of condom is okay, as they may expect that their audience may be contacted by the government and adviced contrary to what they just preached. If a government representative later raises the issue with one of the priest's audience, he is likely to find it very hard to get the target's ear as the priest audience might associate the government's representative with the devil. Another way is acknowledging an argument, before evidence becomes available. For example, when the British government realised a report on Iraq was going to be published, the government officials rushed out and admitted that Iraq likely never had weapon of mass destruction. This in effects, dents the outcry that the published report will likely generate.
• Inoculation effect can also be used in medicine to refer to the body's response to an introduction of a vaccine through a process called Inoculation

External links

• A description of the phrase. Go to the middle of the page and the phrase is written in bold (http://www.comm210.com/m5c13tp2.htm)