Josh Compton
Professor of Speech
Chair, Speech at Dartmouth Steering Committee
I've been studying inoculation as a way to confer resistance to influence for more than 20 years. Persuasion inoculation is modeled after medical inoculation: a weakened form of a challenge motivates resistance to stronger challenges encountered later. Most of my work of late focuses on the theory itself—how it works, why it works, and whether it might work better. My applied work is in mis- and disinformation, science communication, health communication, sport, and other areas.
Contact
Department(s)
Institute for Writing and Rhetoric
Education
Ph.D. University of OklahomaSelected Publications
Clayton, R. B., Compton, J., Reynolds-Tylus, T., Neumann, D., & Park, J. (2022). Revisiting the effects of an inoculation treatment on psychological reactance: A conceptual replication and extension with self-report and psychophysiological measures. Human Communication Research. https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqac026
Compton, J. (2022). Inoculation theory as rhetorical strategy in The Evidence at Large (1805). Western Journal of Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2022.2153616
Compton, J., & Compton, J. (2022). Playoff losses, mayoral politics, image repair,and inoculation: Open letter sport communication. Communication & Sport. https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795211067471
Compton, J., Ivanov, B., & Hester, E. (2022). Inoculation theory and affect. International Journal of Communication 16, 3470-3483. doi:1932-8036/2022FEA0002