Negative affective consequences of thinking about disease detection behaviors.

Abstract

It was proposed that thinking about disease-detection behavior would lead to more negative moods than thinking about health-promotion behavior. Detection behaviors produce more negative moods because they can threaten perceptions of good health. In a laboratory study, the initial mood states of 121 participants recruited from undergraduates and the general community were measured using a neutral-words rating procedure. Then participants were randomly assigned to think about performing a disease-detection behavior or a health-promotion behavior. Subsequently, they wrote down their responses to the behavior and evaluated these as either positive, negative, or neutral. Finally, the participant's mood was remeasured using both a neutral words-rating procedure and a more traditional bipolar rating measure. Results indicated that thought about disease-detection behavior produced more negative affective responses and more negative mood change than did thought about health-promotion behavior.

The effects of anxiety on response times to disease detection and health promotion behaviors

“…For example, deciding to perform a skin cancer selfexamination involves more of a threat to a woman's perception that she is healthy and is likely to arouse more anxiety than deciding to reduce the amount of fat in her diet (MiUar and Millar, 1995). Consistent with this reasoning Millar and Millar (1995) have recently found that thought about a variety of disease detection behaviors generates more negative emotional reactions than thought about a variety of health promotion behaviors.…”

Existential Threat or Dissociative Response? Examining Defensive Avoidance of Point-of-Care Testing Devices Through a Terror Management Theory Framework

“…For instance, because the device gives an indication of future CVD risk, participants may have felt that they could modify their health behaviors to directly reduce their risk for developing CVD. In contrast, cancer-screening behaviors, cholesterol tests, or diagnostic tests may not be perceived to allow for the prevention of an associated health condition to the same degree (Millar & Millar, 1995). This may mean that analogous devices that provide individuals with risk factor estimates for fatal conditions could increase the uptake of screening practices for such conditions.…”

The effects of coping primes on responses to messages about disease detection behaviors

“…Unlike the detection behaviors, each of these allow persons to influence their health directly (see Millar and Millar (1995) for a similar procedure).…”