Promoting the Avoidance of High-Calorie Snacks: Priming Autonomy Moderates Message Framing Effects

Abstract

The beneficial effects of gain-framed vs. loss-framed messages promoting health protective behaviors have been found to be inconsistent, and consideration of potential moderating variables is essential if framed health promotion messages are to be effective. This research aimed to determine the influence of highlighting autonomy (choice and freedom) and heteronomy (coercion) on the avoidance of high-calorie snacks following reading gain-framed or loss-framed health messages. In Study 1 (N = 152) participants completed an autonomy, neutral, or heteronomy priming task, and read a gain-framed or loss-framed health message. In Study 2 (N = 242) participants read a gain-framed or loss-framed health message with embedded autonomy or heteronomy primes. In both studies, snacking intentions and behavior were recorded after seven days. In both studies, when autonomy was highlighted, the gain-framed message (compared to the loss-framed message) resulted in stronger intentions to avoid high-calorie snacks, and lower self-reported snack consumption after seven days. Study 2 demonstrated this effect occurred only for participants to whom the information was most relevant (BMI>25). The results suggest that messages promoting healthy dietary behavior may be more persuasive if the autonomy-supportive vs. coercive nature of the health information is matched to the message frame. Further research is needed to examine potential mediating processes.

Persuading People to Drink Less Alcohol: The Role of Message Framing, Temporal Focus and Autonomy

“…Although other research has shown an effect of temporal focus (Gerend and Cullen, 2008), our study demonstrated this only for participants lower in autonomy. We observed no two-way interaction between message frame and autonomy, suggesting that this interaction found in previous research (Churchill and Pavey, 2013;Pavey and Churchill, 2014) may not hold for alcohol consumption when temporal focus is also manipulated. In future research, a 'no temporal focus' condition could be usefully included to attempt to replicate the two-way interaction.…”

“…Although we did not directly measure participants' risk perceptions in the current study, our findings may be due to the short-term frame increasing perceptions of risk in the loss-frame message condition for low-autonomy participants, who are thought to already construe a higher risk in conducting the health behavior due to potential threats to their autonomy (see Churchill and Pavey, 2013;Pavey and Churchill, 2014). Further research is needed to test this proposal, and in particular to examine whether the fit between the beliefs of low-autonomy individuals and short-term loss-framed messages result in increased risk perceptions, heightened concern and greater adherence to the recommended health behaviour.…”

“…It is also important to note that the findings of this study may be limited by the reliance on a self-report measure of autonomy, which relies on the insight and honesty of the research participants. Thus, it may be constructive to investigate whether the findings of the current study can be replicated using assessments of autonomy that do not rely on self-report, such as autonomy manipulated via a priming task (see Levesque and Pelletier, 2003;Pavey and Churchill, 2014). It should also be noted that no manipulation check data were collected to confirm that the participants experienced the conditions as intended.…”

“…These authors argued that this finding may be due to an autonomous individual construing the behaviour as in accordance with their interests and values and, therefore, as 'less risky' (Pavey and Churchill, 2014, p. 2). A further study examining the effectiveness of messages aimed at reducing highcalorie snack food consumption showed that the same effect occurred when autonomy was experimentally manipulated, with participants who were autonomy primed eating fewer high-calorie snacks after being presented with information about the benefits of reduced snack consumption (Pavey and Churchill, 2014). This study also showed that when feelings of heteronomy (pressure and coercion) were primed, loss framed information was more effective in promoting the avoidance of high-calorie snacks than was gain-framed information.…”

Does message framing affect changes in behavioural intentions in people with psoriasis? A randomized exploratory study examining health risk communication

“…Message framing has been examined in a range of behaviours (Abhyankar et al, 2008;Churchill et al, 2016;Morris et al, 2016;Pavey & Churchill, 2014;Updegraff et al, 2015), and now in a psoriasis population. We demonstrate a clear need for condition-specific health information for people with psoriasis (Keyworth, Nelson, Chew-Graham et al, 2015;Nelson et al, 2017).…”