Credibility

From ArticleWorld

Credibility is the amount of believability attached to a statement or action and the ability of the observer to believe that statement.

The philosopher Aristotle said a speaker's credibility was in itself be considered proof of a true statement. More recently, social science researchers in the 1960s defined multiple layers of credibility. An example is when Berlo and Lemert defined dynamism, competence and trustworthiness as three of the dimensions of credibility that necessarily needed to be considered.

A different definition of credibility comes from te music industry. In this contect, credability is a concept circling around originality and complexity. (Green, 1999). Also involved is authenticity.

Common terms in the music industry’s definition of credibility include cred and street cred. Financial and artistic autonomy are crucial components of indie credibility, the loss this autonomy is known better as selling out. Indie credibility is crucial for independent bands desiring to be critically well received.

An example in the music industry of a group losing credability is clearly present when considering the 1990s group Milli Vanilli. This group was disovered in 1991 to be a fake. Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan never sang a word on the groups albums. Rather, the lipsynched the lyrics which were recorded by different vocalists.

Source

• Green, Lucy (1999) Ideology Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture. Malden, Massachusetts. ISBN 0631212639.

• David K. Berlo and James B. Lemert, "A Factor Analytic Study of the Dimensions of Source Credibility." Paper presented at the 1961 convention of the SAA, New York.