Individual Difference

Why Individual Differences Matter

Communication researchers search for patterns in human behavior in an effort to describe this behavior, but their goal is often more than just description. They would like to predict and explain the behavior. This is because ultimately, most researchers hope their explanations and predictions can be used to improve the human condition to create better societies and better lives. For example, communication researchers aware of the rate of traffic fatalities among young drivers might feel their work could have value in encouraging safer driving among this age group (e.g., by encouraging seat belt use). Description is often a researcher’s primary goal. They might look for patterns in what type of public service announcement (PSA) resonates most with the particular target audience of American teenagers. However, more than just describing what types of PSAs are most popular or most watched among this group, the researchers would also like to be able to explain how or why a certain style of PSA is popular with them, so that this knowledge can be used to design effective PSAs with vital health or safety information, or to predict which, out of several competing styles of PSAs, is most likely to be attended to by them.

Of course, it is not the case that all American teenagers are going to respond similarly to a PSA or any other public health or safety message. Individual differences in how someone was raised, their level of emotional maturity, their mood at the time of receiving the message, and other factors will play a role in whether the message is noticed [Page 692]and to what extent it is persuasive. For this reason, individual differences help explain and predict human behavior and other outcomes, and knowledge about them is valued by researchers.

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