University of Michigan during the protest era of the late 1960s and early
1970s).

Like many social scientists, I have been influenced by cognitive ap-
proaches to human behavior. I believe that a knowledge of the mind and of
mental processes is critical in understanding communication effects. How-
ever, the cognitive perspective is only one of many ways to study political
communication. In this book I offer a variety of perspectives on political
communication, from micro-psychological to macro-political to historical.

I have also tried to describe the weaknesses and strengths of the Ameri-
can political communication system. If I have a bias-and I undoubtedly
have many -- it is to emphasize the strengths and virtues of political com-
munication in America. I have erred on the side of accentuating the positive
in order to provide a sense of hope and optimism in an age when so many
people distrust politicians and the press. Politics can be an instrument of
change and a force for good; after all, it is politics that gave us the United
States of America, and great reforms such as Social Security and civil rights
legislation. And it is the press that exposed corruption in the nineteenth
century, investigated Watergate in the twentieth, and offers us the hope to
link political elites and the public in the century that is nearly upon us.

I appreciate the assistance of a number of colleagues. Thanks to
Everett Cataldo, Jean Dubail, Joe Frolik, Roderick Hart, Amos Kiewe,
Robert Lichter, J. Anthony Maltese, Douglas McLeod, Bruce Newman,
Gary Pettey, Craig Smith, J. Michael Sproule, David Weaver, and Darrell
West for reading chapters of the book, and to Steve Chaffee for his
thoughtful and detailed suggestions. I would also like to thank Jack
McLeod for his support and encouragement over the years. Finally, I
thank my father, Robert Perloff, for his reading of several chapters, and
his encouraging and always reinforcing comments. Finally, I very much
appreciate the assistance and support I received from Linda Bathgate,
Anne Monaghan, Kathleen O'Malley, and Joe Petrowski from Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.

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