(1) Read the article ‘aimClear’s Psychographic Targeting for Political Advertising Agencies’ WINS’ (December 3, 2015) that explains how psychographic messaging is now used in election campaigns at the intersection of marketing and political strategy. This kind of messaging is exactly what was used by Cambridge Analytica – a company you have already encountered in the course. Drawing from specific content in the article, does this kind of targeted messaging based on personality profiling adopt Gricean principles of cooperative communication, and if not, in which ways are Gricean maxims violated? (2) Consider how critical thinking skills as defined by Halpern may be employed by companies developing political campaigns of this type, irrespective of whether or not you agree with the ‘desirable outcomes’ or values involved; (3) Briefly review the evidence that such skills can be learned, and then discuss how you think these skills could have been learnt by campaign strategists of this ‘big data’ sort.
Recommended Reading, Media & Resources
Relevant critical thinking skills for this assignment are found your Halpern textbook in Chapter 1, pps 7-28; 34-44; 51-52. This content includes Halpern’s model of critical thinking (Figure 1.1).
Halpern’s own version of the Gricean principles of cooperative communication can be found in Chapter 3 pps 116-123. More insights into the way language can be used to manipulate thought can be found throughout Chapter 4.
You could also have a look at Phloneme. (2014, Aug 13th). Explained: Grice’s Cooperative Principle. For original source material refer to: Grice, H. P. (1975) ‘Logic and conversation’. In P. Cole and J. Morgan (eds) Studies in Syntax and Semantics III: Speech Acts, New York: Academic Press, pp. 183-98.
For additional background on this kind of political campaigning, you could refer to the Channel 4 News YouTube video: Cambridge Analytica: how big data shaped the US election (2016)
link to the article :
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