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Part 1. Problems Involved in Setting the Issues; Part 2. Problems Connected with Interviewing; Part 3. Some Problems in Sampling; Part 4. Getting at Opinion Determinants; Part 5. The Polling Technique Applied to A Specific Problem ; Part 6. Appendices

Classroom use of a role-playing procedure can illustrate graphically the way SES, personal interests, primary group affiliation, secondary group membership, & other factors enter into the formation of individual opinions on public issues. This technique can also highlight the diff between private opinion & PO, indicate the mechanism through which a relatively few individuals can influence the opinions of a large number, & throw light on the effects of publicity & public discussion on the distribution of opinions in a pop. Adaptations of this 'game' may prove useful as a res tool. AA.

The phenomenon of PO was recognized & described in ancient, medieval, & early modern times although the term itself was not used until the 18th cent. PO is sometimes regarded as undefinable, but F. Allport listed its characteristics: as action or readiness for action with regard to a given issue on the part of members of a public who are reacting in the expectation that others in the public are similarly oriented toward the same issue. The characteristics of PO have not been linked into a theoretical framework, & progress in measuring & describing aspects of PO has outstripped conceptualization. The PO process begins when an issue takes root & is communicated through a human chain & finds one or more groupings hospitable to it. Next, leadership emerges from the original primary groups or by men who are concerned with mass manipulation. Simplification & generalization of the original ideas are usually observed at this point. Communications are important at this stage because they can transmit facts & opinions about the issue to many primary groups. If a substantial number of individuals accept the new ideas, there is a chance that PO may develop. It is noted that those who agree/disagree with an issue are clustered in certain pop groups & not scattered at random. Face-to-face discussions begin again, similar to the original discussions except that people are aware that many other people are talking about the same thing. New formulations & new leadership may modify or reinforce the original idea at this time. Most of us enter the process at this stage & form our act's on the basis of existing att's, our daily contacts, or status considerations. Through personal sampling consciously or unconsciously, people learn of the opinions of others outside their immediate group & the way these people are likely to behave. Once these expectations have been formed, they tend to influence opinions & behavior of the people who entertain the expectations. The behavioral adjustments in turn reinforce the expectations; & when this happens, PO has been formed. Individuals who may be unconcerned with the issue are brought into the process at this stage. A definition of public offered: a large collection of individuals who do not know each other but who react to an issue with the expectation that certain categories of others will display similar alt's on the same issue. PO is transitory & disappears imperceptibly; when the issue disappears, the behavioral adjustment ceases to have purpose. PO on one issue may be displaced by PO on another, it may be broken up by superior physical force where the former behavioral adjustment become incompatible with personal safety or attainment of other values, it may lead to the formation of customs or soc norms before it is dissipated, or it may lead to formal laws or constitutions. J. D. Twight.

Greatest progress toward sci'fic stature in PO res is in those studies where crucial behavior is fungible; that is, where one R's behavior is interchangeable with that of any other R. Examples are exchanging money for goods, or making election ballots. The concepts of Rebound & Reception are proposed as basic to the study of PO power which has its impact in nonfungible form. Rebound includes the issue, the public perceptions of it & the influential behaviors expressing these perceptions. Reception is the disposition of decision makers toward these public reactions. Peer group psychol is basic to the dynamics of Reception. The impact of PO on policy, when opinion registers in non-fungible terms, is Rebound + or minus Reception. AA.

It has been argued that when an attitude of a substantial section of society assumes the dimension of a 'public issue', for instance when action is proposed, then the group attitude is a PO. This view represents that of a good-natured nation of extroverts--the Americans. It has, however, practical limitations. In maturer & soberer nations, account must be taken of crystallized but unexpressed att's. The Indian public has sometimes internalized too much, as for instance as shown by its vacillations over the linguistic issue. Analysis of PO shows a set of outer ingredients of organized views towards public issues, & inner constituents of rather inchoate psychol'al tendencies which can be molded by outer ingredients for the soc good, or neglected at crucial moments at the risk of soc disaster. It is a product & factor of democratic group psychol. Its suppression is always dangerous for public life, its expression at the right time & through the right channels is conducive to soc peace, & its proper regulation is the main object of an organized & healthy civic life. Its systematic study has been neglected. IPSA.