A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Guilt on Health-Related Attitudes and Intentions

Abstract

Guilt appeals are successful in encouraging healthy behaviors as proved by many studies. However, there has been no previous systematic review of guilt research in health domain. Thus, a meta-analysis of eight studies (2,061 subjects) was conducted to examine the effectiveness of guilt on health-related attitudes and intentions. The result revealed a strong positive overall effect of guilt (r = .49, 95% CI 0.31-0.64) despite the heterogeneity. Guilt had a stronger power in changing attitudes/intentions when paired with text-only messages than text-picture mixed messages. For studies using a college sample, the percentage of females marginally moderated the effect of guilt. Whether a message was self focused or other focused did not significantly moderate the effect of guilt. Future directions and practical implications are provided.

The Effectiveness of Guilt and Shame Appeals on Health Communications: The Moderating Role of Self-construal and Personal Cultural Orientation

“…Therefore, hypothesis 4(a, b) is accepted. The findings of this study align with the linear effect studies on emotion and behavioral intention ( Cotte et al, 2005 ;Lindsey, 2005 ;Turner and Underhill, 2012 ) and reveal that emotion plays a major role in determining behavioral change towards the health message ( Xu and Guo, 2018 ). That is, guilt and shame arousals positively influence message compliance: the higher the emotional arousals, the greater the compliance with the health message.…”

“…A significant contribution of this research lies in its focus on the health communications context and on the effectiveness of distinct types of emotions. Most past studies on the relationship between guilt appeals and behavioral intentions have been examined in pro-social and charitable donation behavior ( Xu and Guo, 2018 ). As previously noted, there are differences among the pro-social or charitable donations and health communications contexts in terms of personal significance.…”

“…of guilt appeals has been substantially explored in pro-social or charitable donations, that of guilt and especially shame appeals in health communications remains relatively unexplored (e.g., Duhachek et al, 2012 ;Becheur et al, 2019 ;Boudewyns et al, 2013 ;Han et al, 2014 ;Netemeyer et al, 2016 ). Indeed, a recent meta-analysis in the health domain is conducted with only eight guilt appeal studies ( Xu and Guo, 2018 ). Further, in studies comparing guilt and shame, researchers examined guilt and shame appeals together rather than separating guilt versus shame appeals via their distinct emotional arousals ( Duhachek et al, 2012 ;Boudewyns et al, 2013 ;Han et al, 2014 ).…”

Digital Storytelling With Heroin Users in Vancouver

“…44 This particular emotion is known to prompt people to modify their actions and adhere to laws and regulations. [45][46][47][48] Anti-smoking activists have repeatedly attempted to shame smokers, which include some of the most economically disadvantaged people. 49 Their campaigns have frequently represented smokers as "deviant" and "pariah[s]."…”

Feeling Hopeful Motivates Change: Emotional Responses to Messages Communicating Comparative Risk of Electronic Cigarettes and Combusted Cigarettes

“…More importantly, guilt is linked to a strong sense of personal responsibility to correct a problem and disgust is associated with a strong tendency to move away from an unpleasant object (Han et al, 2007; So et al, 2015). Thus, guilt and disgust may still be related to beliefs and tendencies to stay away from a risk and these have been shown in multiple empirical studies (Clayton, Leshner, Tomko, Trull, & Piasecki, 2017; Kim & Kwon, 2017; Popova et al, 2018; Xu & Guo, 2018). As a result, we predict:…”