Encouraging College Males to Perform Testicular Self-Examination: Evaluation of a Persuasive Message Based on the Revised Theory of Reasoned Action1

This study evaluated the effect of a persuasive message derived from a revised version of the theory of reasoned action on the performance of testicular self-examination (TSE). Subjects (114 male college students) were randomly assigned to listen to a taped persuasive message challenging unfavorable outcome beliefs (as suggested by the theory of reasoned action), a message on testicular cancer information, or no message. All subjects then completed a questionnaire operationalizing the components of the theory of reasoned action (revised to incorporate self-efficacy). As predicted, there was a significant relationship between exposure to the persuasive message and self-reported TSE performance (χ²(2) = 15.66, p < .0001). Sixty-three (71.23%) of the subjects contacted at a 4-week follow-up reported performing the exam. Of those, 44.23% had heard the theory-based message, 36.54% had heard the informational message, and 19.23% had not been exposed to a message. A path analysis of the relationships among components of the theoretical model provided partial support for the hypothesized causal pathways between message exposure and TSE intention and behavior.     

The persuasive effects of framing messages on fruit and vegetable consumption according to regulatory focus theory

According to Regulatory Focus theory (RFT), outcomes in persuasive messages can be framed in four different ways, as gains, non-gains, losses or non-losses. In study 1, the persuasiveness of all four frames was compared and the presence/absence effect that was expected on the basis of the feature-positive effect was verified: Statements about present outcomes (gain, loss) were more persuasive than those about absent outcomes (non-gain, non-loss). However, this study failed to support the prediction that a gain-framed message would be more persuasive than a loss-framed message when promoting a prevention behaviour. Study 2 was designed to examine the latter finding. It was hypothesised that the threat posed by the loss-framed message in study 1 was too low to elicit a defensive reaction. Therefore, in study 2, the personal relevance of the gain and the loss framed message was manipulated. Consistent with predictions, the gain-framed message was more persuasive than the loss-framed message, but only when the message was personalised to increase self-relevance. Moreover, the effect was due to a significant drop in persuasion in the loss condition, probably caused by a defensive reaction. These data shed a new light on the findings of past framing studies.     

The persuasive effects of framing messages on fruit and vegetable consumption according to regulatory focus theory

According to Regulatory Focus theory (RFT), outcomes in persuasive messages can be framed in four different ways, as gains, non-gains, losses or non-losses. In study 1, the persuasiveness of all four frames was compared and the presence/absence effect that was expected on the basis of the feature-positive effect was verified: Statements about present outcomes (gain, loss) were more persuasive than those about absent outcomes (non-gain, non-loss). However, this study failed to support the prediction that a gain-framed message would be more persuasive than a loss-framed message when promoting a prevention behaviour. Study 2 was designed to examine the latter finding. It was hypothesised that the threat posed by the loss-framed message in study 1 was too low to elicit a defensive reaction. Therefore, in study 2, the personal relevance of the gain and the loss framed message was manipulated. Consistent with predictions, the gain-framed message was more persuasive than the loss-framed message, but only when the message was personalised to increase self-relevance. Moreover, the effect was due to a significant drop in persuasion in the loss condition, probably caused by a defensive reaction. These data shed a new light on the findings of past framing studies.     

Effects of a persuasive communication on beliefs, attitudes, and career choice

Fishbein's Theory of Reasoned Action was used to formulate a persuasive communication in an attempt to influence unclassified American college students' beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors regarding signing up for a career as a registered nurse. A two-stage cluster sample was used to assign 90 male and female students to either an experimental or control group. After persuasive communication exposure, the experimental group showed a significantly more positive change in beliefs, attitudes, and intentions than did the control group exposed to a neutral message. Sign-up rate was also statistically significant for the experimental group. With the Fishbein model to predict sign-up behavior, no other scores were found to add to the prediction once behavioral intention was entered into the model. Change in behavioral intention explained 49% of the variation in behavior. Normative belief scores did not approach statistical significance.     

The effects of message threat on psychological reactance to traffic safety messaging

Psychological reactance to persuasive messages can undermine and contradict the goals of those messages. This study examined the effect of message characteristics (forcefulness and framing) on psychological reactance to traffic safety messages that promoted safe behavior (seat belt wearing) and prohibited risky behavior (distracted driving) in terms of threat appraisal, emotional reaction, and message attitude. The study also included perceiver characteristics (reactance proneness, behavior attitude, and risk-taking propensity). Using a within-subject design, subjects completed an online experiment that presented short traffic safety messages followed by questions that measure psychological reactance. The results demonstrated that forceful messages could increase psychological reactance. However, the perceiver characteristics were often significant as covariates affecting this relationship. The study concludes that the design of effective traffic safety messages must consider both the characteristics of the message content and the characteristics of the message audience.     

A TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS OF COMPLIANCE-GAINING BEHAVIOR

This study investigated how persuasive agents modify their compliance-gaining message strategy selection when they are confronted with noncompliant male and female persuasive targets in a variety of relational contexts. Based on instrumental learning theory, it was hypothesized that persuasive agents in noninterpersonal contexts would respond to noncompliant persuasive targets by increasing their preference for punishment-oriented message strategies and decreasing their preference for reward-oriented message strategies, whereas persuasive agents in interpersonal contexts would increase their preference for reward and punishment-oriented message strategies. Results confirmed the hypothesis. Moreover, males were expected to respond to noncompliant persuasive targets with more punishment-oriented strategies than females, and females were expected to use more rewarding strategies to secure compliance from noncompliant persuasive targets. However, results indicated that females responded to noncompliant persuasive targets with more punishment and reward-oriented strategies than males. Results also showed that the effects of persuasive agents' gender on message selection is mediated by the gender of persuasive targets and the duration of the relational consequences.     

Noncompliance with Persuasive Appeals for a Prosocial,Altruistic Act: Blood Donating1

Effects of persuasive messages, responsibility denial (RD), and attitude-accessing on blood-giving attitudes, intentions, moral obligations, and behavior were examined. In Study 1, participants (n= 84) who heard a message emphasizing moral reasons for donating indicated a more favorable postmessage attitude and stronger moral obligation to donate than participants exposed to a message aimed at reducing fear, a combined moral and fear- reduction message, or no message. Combined message participants showed greatest intent to donate, yet only 14% of all participants attended a campus drive. In Study 2, low (n= 52) and high (n= 60) RD individuals heard the message arguments and were asked to access their attitudes. Low compared to high RD individuals stated a stronger sense of moral obligation, particularly when they accessed their thoughts relevant to blood donating, and behavioral intention, especially in the combined message condition. Few participants attended a blood drive (12.5%), yet most were low RD individuals from the nonaccessed attitude condition (83%). Results suggest that few individuals will engage in the altruistic act of blood donating, despite the experimental use of persuasive messages and accessing issue-relevant attitudes.     

Don't you know that you want to trust me? Subliminal goal priming and persuasion

We investigated the effect of goal priming on the processing of a persuasive message. Before reading a persuasive message about tap water consumption, participants were subliminally primed (or not) with the goal “to trust”. Subsequently, they completed a questionnaire about their perception of the message, the source of the message, and tap water consumption intentions. The results indicated that non-conscious activation of the goal “to trust” leads to a better evaluation of the message, increases behavioral intentions in accordance with the message, and positively influences the assessment of the source.     

Beyond attitude consensus: The social context of persuasion and resistance

The current research presents a new type of social context effect on attitude certainty. It is proposed that when people receive persuasive messages, they appraise their attitudes not only in terms of whether they are shared or not shared by others, but also in terms of whether they are based on similar or dissimilar assessments of the information presented. In two experiments, participants were presented with persuasive messages. In Experiment 1, they were induced to perceive that they responded favorably (persuasion) or unfavorably (resistance) to the message arguments. In Experiment 2, they were allowed to vary in their actual message responses. In both experiments, message response similarity—the degree to which people perceived that their evaluations of persuasive arguments were shared or unshared by others—moderated the classic effect of attitude similarity on attitude certainty. In particular, attitude similarity only affected attitude certainty under conditions of message response similarity. When message responses were believed to be dissimilar, attitude similarity had no effect on attitude certainty.     

Behavioral Change in Earthquake Preparedness Due to Negative Threat Appeals: A Test of Protection Motivation Theory

Using protection motivation theory as a conceptual framework, the current investigation examined the effects of a negative, threat-inducing persuasive message on the change in earthquake preparedness over a 5-week period of time. One hundred eleven California home owners read a persuasive message which manipulated their beliefs along four dimensions: subjective probability of a large earthquake, expected severity of earthquake damage, perceived effectiveness of earthquake preparedness, and perceived capability of preparedness. The dependent measure was behavioral change in earthquake preparedness. The results indicated that the manipulations produced a significant change in the earthquake preparedness behavior of the subjects. Furthermore, the independent variables interacted in theoretically meaningful ways.     

Contextual contrast and perceived knowledge: Exploring the implications for persuasion

The present research tested the notion that perceived target knowledge can be affected by the amount of information one has about other recently encountered stimuli—whether that information is relevant or not. Furthermore, the present research tested the implications of this effect for persuasion. In 4 experiments, participants were presented with a persuasive message promoting a fictitious department store, but first received another message containing more or less information about something else (e.g., another store, a car, or a person). Regardless of the type or valence of initial information received, the initial message had a contrast effect on perceived target knowledge, which influenced target attitudes. The less information the initial message contained, the more persuasive knowledge participants thought they received from the target message, and the more their attitudes agreed with that message. These findings suggest that the perceived amount of persuasive information one has about a target stimulus can be manipulated to increase persuasion, even when the actual amount of information about the target stimulus does not vary.     

The role of overt head movement and attention in persuasion

This study examined the effect of overt head movement on attitudes toward a product. In a headphones test, participants were required to listen to music and to either nod or shake their heads. Some participants listened to a CD of music; other participants listened to a CD of the same music and a persuasive message about the headphones. Overt head movement affected participants' product choice and price perception when they were presented with the music and a persuasive message. The findings are interpreted to suggest that head movement can be instrumental in participants' product evaluation if the head movement is directed or focused on the attitude object.     

Novel argumentation and attitude change: The case of polarization following group discussion

This study is concerned with attitude polarization as a function of two properties of a persuasive message: (a) its validity or acceptability and (b) its novelty. The latter is defined as the extent to which the message contains new arguments unlikely to have been already considered by the individual. Acceptability is assumed to be a necessary condition for inducing attitude change; the impact of novelty, therefore, was expected to be most pronounced for arguments of high validity. This hypothesis was tested in two related studies using arguments produced in response to choice dilemma items, widely used in research on polarization. First, it was shown that arguments rated as both valid and novel were perceived as more persuasive than arguments rated either as highly valid but obvious (non-novel) or as low in validity (non-valid) but novel. Second, when subjects read samples of valid arguments, their attitudes polarized in the direction advocated by the novel arguments rather than by the non-novel ones. These findings are considered relevant to the polarization of attitudes in groups. Other research demonstrates that this phenomenon is the result of persuasive arguments raised during group discussion, The present study suggests why such arguments may be persuasive.     

FRIENDLY OR UNFRIENDLY PERSUASION

Expectancy theory suggests that people develop normative expectations about appropriateness of communication behavior that differ for males and females. Support was found for an interaction hypothesis predicting that males would be expected to use more verbally aggressive persuasive message strategies and would negatively violate expectations and be less persuasive when they deviated from such strategies. Moreover, females are expected to be less verbally aggressive and use more prosocial message strategies and are penalized for deviations from such an expected strategy. Manipulation checks indicated that people have clear differences in expected strategy use by males and females and that neither the psychological sex role nor biological sex of receivers alters those expectations. Results are discussed in terms of similarity to prior language research, as an extension of expectancy theory and as added knowledge about the effects of specific compliance-gaining message strategies.     

Cognitive Processing and the Functional Matching Effect in Persuasion: The Mediating Role of Subjective Perceptions of Message Quality

In two experiments, we examined the hypothesis that subjective perceptions of message quality mediate the functional matching effect in persuasion. In Experiment 1, participants whose attitudes and behaviors serve primarily a value-expressive function (i.e., low self-monitors) or a social-adjustive function (i.e., high self-monitors) were exposed to persuasive messages that contained value-expressive, social-adjustive, or both types of arguments in favor of voting. Functionally-relevant messages (i.e., the social-adjustive message for high self-monitors and the value-expressive message for low self-monitors) produced enhanced perceptions of message quality and persuasiveness, more positive attitudes, and more message-related behavior than functionally nonrelevant messages. Functionally mixed messages were generally more effective than messages containing only functionally nonrelevant arguments, but less effective than messages containing only functionally relevant arguments. Path analyses indicated that the influence of functional relevance on attitudes and behavior was significantly mediated by subjective perceptions of the quality of the message. In Experiment 2, we exposed participants to a functionally relevant or nonrelevant voting appeal five days before a presidential election. Results replicated those of Experiment 1; functionally relevant messages produced more favorable attitudes, and this effect was mediated by enhanced perceptions of message quality. Finally, postmessage attitudes exerted a significant influence on whether participants voted in the election, and this effect was mediated by voting intentions. Discussion focuses on the subjective nature of message evaluation and on the cognitive processes underlying the functional matching effect in persuasion.     

Persistence of attitude change and attitude–behavior correspondence based on extensive processing of source information

A three‐phase longitudinal study (spread over a month's time) was carried out to investigate attitude's persistence and linkage to behavior as it may be affected by the processing of information about the communication source. The following three independent variables were manipulated: (i) contents of the source of information (implying the communicator to be expert or inexpert on the topic of the communication); (ii) length of the source information (brief versus lengthy); and (iii) message recipients' involvement in the issue at hand (high versus low). Replicating prior research when the source information was brief, it exerted greater persuasive impact under low versus high involvement, and when it was lengthy, it exerted greater persuasive impact under high versus low involvement. Of greater importance, the newly acquired attitudes were more persistent and were linked more strongly to actual behavior when the source information was lengthy (versus brief) provided the recipients had high (versus low) involvement in the issue. These findings were interpreted to mean that just like with the message/issue information in prior research, when processed extensively, source information, too, may contribute to the formation of persistent and behavior‐driving attitudes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Compensatory Effects of Cognitive Characteristics of the Source,the Message,and the Receiver Upon Attitude Change

This study explored the interactive effects of four cognitive variables (perceived expertise of the source, recipients' initial attitudes, number of arguments, and message sidedness) on attitude change. A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design was used (N = 236 Canadian students): Results showed a positive and significant main effect of initial attitude on attitude change and three significant compensatory effects of independent variables on attitude change: (a) two-sided messages were more persuasive with fewer arguments; conversely for one-sided messages; (b) high expertise compensated for low number of arguments and conversely; and (c) higher expertise was more persuasive in the case of unfavorable recipients and conversely. Results also showed that when the message was one-sided and the number of arguments was large, low expertise was more persuasive than high expertise on initially opposed recipients, which confirms the cognitive response.     

Disengagement beliefs in smokers: Do they influence the effects of a tailored persuasive message advocating smoking cessation?

Disengagement beliefs function to reduce cognitive dissonance and a number of predictions with regard to disengagement beliefs have been tested and verified. However, the influence of disengagement beliefs on persuasion has not been studied yet. In a field-experiment, 254 smokers were randomly assigned to a persuasive message condition or a no-information control condition. First, it was assessed to what extent disengagement beliefs influenced persuasion. In smokers with low adherence to disengagement beliefs, quitting activity (attempting to quit) in the control condition was high, but this was not further increased by persuasive information on the negative outcomes of smoking. In contrast, smokers who strongly adhered to disengagement beliefs showed low quitting activity in the control condition, but significantly more quitting activity when they received the persuasive message. Second, it was studied what smokers do when they experience negative affect caused by the persuasive message. The results show that in smokers who strongly adhered to disengagement beliefs, negative affect was associated with less quitting activity. Although these results show that quitting activity as assessed at 2 and 8 months follow-ups was influenced by disengagement beliefs, point prevalence seven-day quitting was not. This study shows that adherence to disengagement beliefs is a relevant individual difference in understanding effects of smoking cessation interventions.     

The effectiveness of personalized e-mail newsletters and the role of personal characteristics

Personalizing communication means creating persuasive messages that refer to aspects of a person's self. Although the use of personalization is increasing, research on its effectiveness is limited and the results are mixed. This study examined the persuasiveness of personalized e-mail newsletters in terms of increased attention, cognitive activity, evaluation, attitude, intention, and behavior by means of an experiment (n=109). Participants randomly received either a personalized or a generic newsletter advertising a sports center. Personalization triggered a more positive evaluation of the message; however, it did not influence the other effect variables. The effects were moderated by consumers' need for uniqueness, trust, and privacy concerns, suggesting that personalization is a good strategy to increase message evaluation only among individuals who have a high need for uniqueness.