Emotional Flow in Persuasive Health Messages

Abstract

Overwhelmingly, the literature on the persuasive influence of emotions has focused on individual emotions, fear in particular, though some recent attention has been given to mixed emotions in persuasive appeals. Building on this newer wave of research, this article argues that instead of focusing on singular emotional states or collections of emotions evoked by a message, it might prove valuable to explore the flow, or evolution, of emotional experience over the course of exposure to a health message. The article offers a brief introduction to the concept of emotion, followed by a review of the state of the literature on the use of emotion in health messages. The concept of emotional flow is then introduced along with a consideration of how it has been tacitly incorporated into the study of emotional health messages. Finally, the utility of the concept of emotional flow is elaborated by articulating the ways in which it might be harnessed to facilitate the creation of more effective health messages, individually as well as across campaigns. The article concludes with an agenda for future research.

Beyond Enjoyment: A Cognitive-Emotional Perspective of Gamification

“…A call for "serious experience" in serious games provides one example of this need [41]. Similar calls have been made for the design of everyday objects [18] and persuasive health messages [48]. Future gamified experiences could become carefully engineered experiences designed to evoke specific emotions and cognitions at desired levels of intensity, in the appropriate sequence, and matching the targeted cognitions to achieve the desired outcome.…”

Framing in strategic communications: The construction of ‘National Unity’ through Public Service Announcements (PSAs) in Malaysia

“…Similarly, Van Stee et al (2012) finds that individuals who perceive messages as believable because they are 'affective' and thus reflect their personal experiences can affect their acceptance of media messages. In other words, media messages influence audiences emotionally through their use of visual images and narratives because they encourage audiences' happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, curiosity and relief (Nabi, 2015). On the other hand, the route to perceiving something as 'real' is mostly associated with logic (Van Stee et al, 2012) because audiences actively construct real world views from its fallacies truths derived from media messages (Carter, 2013).…”

“…This strategy was also employed during strategic communication campaigns in order to attract the target audiences' attention before changing their opinion or attitude in favour of the messages (Kareklas et al, 2015;Mahoney, 2010). Furthermore, the use of familiar and well-liked sources, such as celebrities, is another useful strategy in engaging audiences about certain relevant issues (Nabi, 2015). For example, the use of popular world sports celebrities, such as Lee Chong Wei or Nicol David may attract audiences' responses towards anti-smoking advertisements (Hong et al, 2013).…”

“…Some individuals may rely on 'heuristic cues' to interpret messages based on logic or affect (Entman et al, 2009;Hallahan, 2001)) to mentally shortcut information to its conclusion (Hallahan, 2001). For example, what is seen as a reliable or credible source (Kareklas et al, 2015) because they present stories convincingly (Nabi, 2015) is tantamount to heuristic processing.…”

“…It is also agreed by Chan & Chang (2013) that PSAs are an important and persuasive way of disseminating information to people on public issues or government's programmes. Furthermore, PSAs have been consistently used around the world to inform and educate the public on social or health issues (Kareklas et al, 2015;Mahoney, 2010;Lancaster & Lancaster, 2002;Lynn, 1974;Van Stee et al, 2012) to help people improve their safety and welfare (Chan & Chang, 2013), and to reinforce community standards by discouraging improper behaviours that invoke public displeasure (Nabi, 2015 & Chang, 2013;Harakeh, Engels, Vohs, van Baaren, & Sargent, 2010;Kareklas et al, 2015;Mahoney, 2010 ;Van Stee et al, 2012).…”