Carl Hovland

Carl Iver Hovland (1912-1961) was a psychologist working primarily at Yale University and the United States Army during World War II who studied attitude change and persuasion.

He first reported the sleeper effect after studying the effects of the Frank Capra propaganda film Why We Fight on soldiers while at the Army. In later studies on this subject, Hovland collaborated with Irving Janis who would later become famous for his theory of groupthink.

Hovland also developed social judgment theory of attitude change.