Action Tendency Emotions Evoked by Memorable Breast Cancer Messages and Their Association With Prevention and Detection Behaviors

Abstract

Memorable messages about breast cancer sent by different sources, such as friends and family members, were analyzed for the action tendency emotions that they evoked. Negative emotions of fear, sadness, and anger, and positive emotions of hope and relief were analyzed for their associations with prevention and detection breast cancer behaviors. Messages that evoked fear were significantly more likely to be associated with detection behaviors, whereas messages that evoked relief were significantly less likely to be associated with detection behaviors than messages that did not evoke these emotions. These results are consistent with control theory and also show that friends and family are important sources of memorable messages about breast cancer. Keywords Memorable Messages; Action Tendency Emotions; Breast Cancer Prevention; Breast Cancer DetectionCancer is one of the greatest health concerns in the United States. Vast numbers of people are affected by cancer, and breast cancer is one of the most prevalent types. Most American women will have exposure to the disease directly or indirectly throughout their lifetimes (Susan G. Komen for the Cure, 2007). A wide variety of messages are created and disseminated to provide information regarding this disease. These messages can come from medical personnel, family, friends, the internet, or mass media campaigns. They are important because they often contain information regarding breast cancer awareness, detection, prevention, and treatment that women and their loved ones can use to improve health behaviors and possibly save lives (Pribble, et al., 2006). Awareness, detection, prevention, and treatment messages can only be effective, however, if women are able to recall them. Some messages that people recall are memorable messages that are "remembered for extremely long periods of time and which people perceive as a major influence on the course of their lives" (Knapp, Stohl, & Reardon, 1981, p. 27 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptResearch guided by Control Theory has also been conducted to determine what types of memorable messages are utilized as guides to action 2004;Smith, Ellis, & Yoo, 2001).Another line of research has found that evoking certain discrete emotions can result in increased behavioral intentions and actual behaviors (Lazarus, 1991;Nabi, 2002). The research in this area is still in its formative stages, so it is yet to be determined which emotions consistently result in particular behaviors. Dillard and Nabi (2006), in their discussion of emotions associated specifically with cancer-related messages, reasoned that these messages can evoke a variety of emotions such as fear, sadness, and disgust, and that these emotions do have the potential to affect persuasion. Little is known, however, about how memorable messages and emotions interact to impact behaviors. It is reasoned here that if a particular emotion is evoked by a certain type of message, the message may become more memorable and the desired actio...

Memorable First Time Sexual Experiences: Gendered Patterns and Nuances

“…A major contribution of our exploratory study of first sexual experiences to existing literature is the productive ways in which we investigated the narratives of memorable messages broadly defined, given the powerful ways in which they serve as a template for understanding human life (Browning, 2009). This epistemological shift away from a rational-scientific paradigm (Fisher, 1987) seen in traditional memorable message research (Knapp et al, 1981;Smith et al, 2010) provides a valuable opportunity to study memorable messages as determined by participant narratives rather than existing conceptualizations. From the perspective of students at three diverse colleges and universities, memorable first-time sexual narratives about sex were gained through personal experiences-something that appears in existing literature but is relatively unexplored (Ellis & Smith, 2004).…”

“…A message is memorable because it provides an answer to an inner conflict or personal problem, prompts a greater understanding of self, or provides a guide to self-assessment of behavior that is analyzed and discussed . While earlier research found that memorable messages were offered verbally by older people with higher statuses in comparison to the participant (Knapp et al, 1981), more recent studies identify more diverse sources of memorable message, including peers (Smith et al, 2010) and those gained from personal experiences (Ellis & Smith, 2004). Extending this work, our intended focus is to explore first sexual experiences that individuals reported as having significant impact on current sexual practices.…”

“…In the last two and a half decades, communication scholars have studied memorable messages in terms of organizational socialization (e.g., Dallimore, 2003;Stohl, 1986), influence of family communication (e.g., Ellis & Smith, 2004;Medved, Brogan, McClanahan, Morris, & Shepherd, 2006), perceptions of illness and healthcare (e.g., Keely, 2004;Lauckner et al, 2012;Smith, Atkin, Skubisz, Nazion, & Stohl, 2009;Smith et al, 2010), constructions of identity (Heisler & Ellis, 2008;Holladay, 2002), and understandings of discrimination in an increasingly diverse world (Camara & Orbe, 2010). For this particular study, the literature on memorable messages represents a useful conceptual lens through which to study salient influences of current sexual practices (Medved et al, 2006).…”

Determining the Action Tendency Emotions Associated with Mothers’ Intentions to Encourage Their Preadolescent Daughters to Eat Healthfully: A Mixed Methods Study

“…The ATF links discrete emotional experiences to predictable judgments and behavioral choices due to changes in cognition, physiology, and action in response to the event that elicited the emotion (Lerner & Keltner, 2000. It is argued that emotions have direct impact on persuasion and behavior due to their associated action tendencies (Dillard & Nabi, 2006), and a growing trend surrounds the ability of certain discrete emotions to elicit predictable judgments, intentions, and behaviors (Han, Lerner, & Keltner, 2007;Lazarus, 1991;Lerner & Keltner, 2000Nabi, 2002), particularly within the health communication context (Hamel, 2014;Smith et al, 2010). However, it remains unclear what message sources are likely to elicit discrete emotions and what behavioral responses are likely to result from discrete emotional experiences.…”

“…Emotion focused research suggests that the experience of discrete emotions may prompt predictable behavior (Lazarus, 1991;Nabi, 2002;Smith et al, 2010). This link between behavioral responses and discrete emotions is the foundation of a body of research on action tendency emotions and the appraisal tendency framework (ATF) (Lerner & Keltner, 2000.…”