Feelings of vulnerability in response to threatening messages: Effects of self-affirmation

Klein, William M. P.; Harris, Peter R.; Ferrer, Rebecca A.; Zajac, Laura E.

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.05.005

Cited by 67 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As found in a number of previous, self-affirmation had non-significant effects on measures of message derogation (Scott et al, 2013), perceived risk (Harris & Napper, 2005;Klein et al, 2011) and intention (Harris & Napper, 2005;Scott et al, 2013). Self-affirmation also had non-significant effects on alcohol behaviour at follow-up, in line with null findings reported in previous studies (Harris & Napper, 2005;Meier et al, 2015;Scott et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Most tests of the effects of self-affirmation on alcohol-related cognitions and behaviour in university students (Ferrer et al, 2012;Harris & Napper, 2005;Klein et al, 2011, Meier et al, 2015 have used a values essay to manipulate self-affirmation in which participants are instructed to select their most important value and write about why it is important to them (Crocker, Niya & Mischkowski, 2008). Crocker et al (2008) reported that between 48% (Study 1) and 67% (Study 2) of students chose Òsocial life-relationshipsÓ as their most important value to write about.…”

Section: Self-affirmation and Implementation Intentionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Combining self-affirmation and implementation intentions to reduce heavy episodic drinking in university students.

Norman

Wrona-Clarke

2016

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Studies testing the effects of self-affirmation on alcohol-related cognitions and behaviour in university students have produced equivocal results. As self-affirmation is a motivational technique (i.e., designed to reduce defensive processing) it may need to be supplemented with volitional techniques, such as forming if-then plans, to translate positive intentions into behaviour. Participants (N = 348) were randomly assigned to conditions in a 2 (selfaffirmation) × 2 (implementation intention) between-participants factorial design. Participants completed a self-affirmation task (i.e., values essay) or not, read a summary about the health risks of binge drinking (8/6 units for men/women), and then completed an implementation intention task (i.e., forming if-then plans) or not. Participants then completed measures of message derogation, perceived risk and intention as well as alcohol consumption one week later. All main and interaction effects for self-affirmation were non-significant. In contrast, participants who formed implementation intentions (vs. not) reported drinking fewer units of alcohol and engaged in binge drinking less frequently at one-week follow-up. Additional analyses revealed that affirming a social value attenuated the effect of self-affirmation on intention, but augmented the effect of implementation intentions on behaviour. Overall, the findings provide additional evidence for the positive effects of implementation intentions, but question the use of self-affirmation to reduce alcohol consumption in university students.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Self-affirmation and Implementation Intentionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining self-affirmation and implementation intentions to reduce heavy episodic drinking in university students.

Norman

Wrona-Clarke

2016

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This greater readiness to report affective responses, including the experience of negative affect, is considered to be one of the key consequences of reduced defensiveness following self-affirmation . Extending this line of evidence to the experience of anticipated regret seems relatively straightforward (also see Klein, Running head: SELF-AFFIRMATION AND ANTICIPATED REGRET 9 Harris, Ferrer, & Zajac, 2011). However, to date no published studies have assessed the impact of self-affirmation on anticipated regret.…”

Section: Self-affirmation and Anticipated Regretmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Affirmation Before Exposure to Health Communications Promotes Intentions and Health Behavior Change by Increasing Anticipated Regret

Koningsbruggen¹,

Harris

Smits³

et al. 2016

Communication Research

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Health-risk information can elicit negative emotions like anticipated regret that may positively affect health persuasion. The beneficial impact of such emotions is undermined when target audiences respond defensively to the threatening information. We tested whether self-affirming (reflecting on cherished attributes) before message exposure can be used as strategy to enhance the experience of anticipated regret. Women were self-affirmed or not before exposure to a message promoting fruit and vegetable consumption. Self-affirmation increased anticipated regret and intentions reported following message exposure and consumption in the week after the intervention; regret mediated the affirmation effect on intentions. Moreover, results suggest that anticipated regret and intentions are serial mediators linking self-affirmation and behavior. By demonstrating the mediating role of anticipated regret, we provide insights into how self-affirmation may promote healthy intentions and behavior following health message exposure. Self-affirmation techniques could thus potentially be used to increase the effectiveness of health communication efforts.

show abstract

“…These strategies appear to counteract defensiveness, enabling appropriate processing of self-threatening information (Cohen and Sherman, 2014). Effects of self-affirmation have been examined in studies of alcohol-related threatening health information (Armitage et al, 2011, Armitage et al, 2014, Meier et al, 2015, Harris and Napper, 2005, Klein and Harris, 2009, Klein et al, 2011. These studies tend to support self-affirmation theory, showing for example, increased subjective fear and intention to reduce consumption following threatening health information in self-affirmed participants, although these effects may depend on participants' habitual level of drinking (Scott et al, 2013, Harris and Napper, 2005, Klein and Harris, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Processing of Alcohol-Related Health Threat in At-Risk Drinkers: An Online Study of Gender-Related Self-Affirmation Effects

Kamboj

Place

Barton

et al. 2016

Alcohol and Alcoholism

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims: Defensiveness in response to threatening health-information related to excessive alcohol consumption prevents appropriate behaviour change. Alternatively, self-affirmation may improve cognitive-affective processing of threatening information, thus contributing to successful self-regulation. Method:Effects of an online self-affirmation procedure were examined in at-risk university student drinkers. Participants were randomly assigned to a self-affirmation (writing about personally-relevant values) or control task (writing about values relevant to another person) prior to presentation of alcohol-related threatening information. Assessment of prosocial feelings (e.g. 'love') after the task, served as a manipulation check. Generic and personalised information regarding the link between alcohol-use and cancer was presented, followed by assessment of perceived threat, message avoidance and derogation. Page dwell-times served as indirect indices of message engagement. Alcohol consumption and intention to drink less were assessed during the first online session and at one-week and one-month follow-up.Results: Although, self-affirmation resulted in higher levels of prosocial feelings immediately after the task, there was no effect on behaviour in the self-affirmation group.Effects on intention were moderated by gender, such that men showed lower intention immediately after self-affirmation, but this increased at one-week follow-up. Women's intention to reduce consumption in the self-affirmation group reduced over time. Trend-level effects on indices of derogation and message acceptance were in the predicted direction only in men.Conclusions: It is feasible to perform self-affirmation procedures in an online environment with at-risk drinkers. However use of internet-based procedures with this population may 3 give rise to (gender-dependent) effects that are substantially diluted compared to lab-based experiments. SHORT SUMMARYAn online self-affirmation procedure was used with the aim of reducing defensiveness to alcohol-related health-threats. Reduced defensiveness was found, but only in men, who showed small effects on threat-engagement and message derogation. Therefore, effects seen in the lab may be diluted when online procedures are used, particularly in at-risk drinkers.

show abstract

Feelings of vulnerability in response to threatening messages: Effects of self-affirmation

Cited by 67 publications

References 57 publications

Combining self-affirmation and implementation intentions to reduce heavy episodic drinking in university students.

Combining self-affirmation and implementation intentions to reduce heavy episodic drinking in university students.

Self-Affirmation Before Exposure to Health Communications Promotes Intentions and Health Behavior Change by Increasing Anticipated Regret

Processing of Alcohol-Related Health Threat in At-Risk Drinkers: An Online Study of Gender-Related Self-Affirmation Effects

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About