Increased attention but more efficient disengagement: Neuroscientific evidence for defensive processing of threatening health information.

Kessels, Lilian; Ruiter, Robert A. C.; Jansma, Bernadette M.

doi:10.1037/a0019372

Cited by 122 publications

(144 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…However, when efficacy is low people will not adopt the desired health behavior but will choose to control the feeling of fear by engaging in defensive processes (e.g., defensive avoidance; Witte, 1992;Witte & Allen, 2000). In line with this, several studies have found that smokers more efficiently disengage attention from highly threatening than lowthreatening or nonthreatening stimuli (Kessels, Ruiter, & Jansma, 2010;Maynard, Munafò, & Leonards, 2013). Thus, for a significant proportion of smokers a fear-eliciting message that stresses negative outcomes of smoking is likely to be ineffective.…”

Section: Gains Versus Lossesmentioning

confidence: 71%

Short and Sweet: The Persuasive Effects of Message Framing and Temporal Context in Antismoking Warning Labels

Mollen

Engelen

Kessels

et al. 2016

Journal of Health Communication

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Section: Gains Versus Lossesmentioning

confidence: 71%

Short and Sweet: The Persuasive Effects of Message Framing and Temporal Context in Antismoking Warning Labels

Mollen

Engelen

Kessels

et al. 2016

Journal of Health Communication

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“…These findings are in line with empirical evidence showing that past behavior enhances persuasive effects of framed messages. 39,40,50 This may be because people who already adhere to public health guidelines are more involved with health behavior(s), 40,51,52 which has been shown to moderate message framing effects. 33 What is perhaps more concerning is that the current findings revealed problematic issues when attempting to persuade those most in need of being persuaded (eg, have insufficient fruit intake).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Effects of Previous Fruit Intake, Descriptive Majority Norms, and Message Framing on Fruit Intake Intentions and Behaviors in Dutch Adults Across a 1-Week Period

Bruijn¹,

Visscher²,

Mollen³

2015

Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior

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“…However, participants may become less defensive over time. Repeated exposure of injunctive messages has been found to be effective in reducing smoking (Kessels et al, 2010), drinking (Brown & Locker, 2009), and risky sexual behavior (Earl et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Alcohol-Related Personalized Normative Feedback With and Without an Injunctive Message

Steers

Coffman

Wickham

et al. 2016

J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs

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ABSTRACT. Objective: Personalized normative feedback (PNF) has been used extensively to reduce alcohol consumption, particularly among heavy drinkers. However, the majority of PNF studies have used only descriptive norms (real or perceived pervasiveness of a given behavior). The purpose of the current study was to explore the efficacy of PNF both with and without an injunctive message indicating approval or disapproval based on the participants' standing relative to other students' drinking levels. This randomized trial evaluated two brief web-based alcohol intervention conditions (descriptive-norms-feedback-only condition versus a descriptive-plus-injunctive-message condition relative to an assessment-only control condition). Method: Participants included 176 students who had reported at least one heavy drinking episode in the past month. Participants completed baseline and follow-up assessments of perceived norms and drinking. Follow-up assessments were completed at 2 weeks post-intervention by 165 (94%) participants. Results: Analyses were conducted using zero-inflated negative binomial regression models. As expected, the descriptive-norms-only condition was effective in reducing drinking among heavier baseline drinkers at follow-up relative to the control condition. However, contrary to expectations, the descriptive-plus-injunctive-message condition did not predict less drinking at follow-up. Conclusions: This study was unique in using an injunctive message as an adjunct to descriptive-norms feedback within the context of drinking. Findings highlight the need for additional research into the role of defensiveness, which may serve as an impediment to using injunctive norms/messages in interventions for problematic substance use and other potentially stigmatizing behaviors. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 77, 337-342, 2016)

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Increased attention but more efficient disengagement: Neuroscientific evidence for defensive processing of threatening health information.

Abstract: The findings provide the first neuroscientific support for the hypothesis that threatening health information causes more efficient disengagement among those for whom the health threat is self-relevant.

Cited by 122 publications

References 45 publications

Short and Sweet: The Persuasive Effects of Message Framing and Temporal Context in Antismoking Warning Labels

Short and Sweet: The Persuasive Effects of Message Framing and Temporal Context in Antismoking Warning Labels

Effects of Previous Fruit Intake, Descriptive Majority Norms, and Message Framing on Fruit Intake Intentions and Behaviors in Dutch Adults Across a 1-Week Period

Evaluation of Alcohol-Related Personalized Normative Feedback With and Without an Injunctive Message

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