INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MESSAGE TYPE AND FRAMING ON TRANSPORTATION, ATTITUDES, AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS

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INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MESSAGE TYPE AND FRAMING ON TRANSPORTATION, ATTITUDES, AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS

ABSTRACT

Individuals are often exposed to risk messages in the media, be it through print, broadcast, or film. These messages can be presented as gain- or loss-framed narratives, operationalized here as public narratives in the form of news stories, or as statistical evidence. Scholars from varied disciplines have examined these message types and their ability to influence viewers’ attitudes, intentions, emotions, and behaviors. Media researchers have also examined cognitive and affective processes that make persuasion through narratives different from persuasion through more overt persuasive tactics. Despite this large body of literature, there are many unanswered questions about how the persuasive processes work in narratives and which factors affect changes in attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. The present study found a persuasive advantage for lossframed narratives where participants in this condition reported increased transportation, perceived message persuasiveness, affective response, and behavioral intentions. The present study also tested a mediation model where transportation was found to mediate the relationship between negative narratives and behavioral intentions. Additional factors were also found to mediate the relationship between transportation and behavioral intentions. Results and implications are discussed.

 

Chapter 1

Introduction

Imagine the following. A camera pans a child’s room. It shows a set of musical toys dangling over a baby’s crib and then moves to show the empty bed. A flash of writing says, “This baby has died due to not being vaccinated.” This Wyeth Pharmaceuticals’ advertisement depicts a risky situation for any new parent. In fact reports from Jeddah, Saudia Arabia, showed a “mad rush” of parents seeking vaccinations for their children after viewing the ad (Shalhoub, 2007).

Or consider this scenario, a young man asks a bartender for another shot of tequila when in his mind’s eye he pictures the possible consequences of his next drink. The camera shows a police officer administering a breathalyzer test, then cuffing and taking him to jail. Quickly his mind switches to see a courtroom where the judge announces his license has been revoked. Soon his employer appears and explains that since his job requires him to drive he will need to find new employment. Finally his family members appear and he sees disappointment, fear, and shame in their faces. Stories such as these have been used to induce behavioral and attitudinal changes toward risky actions.

These examples demonstrate risk messages that emphasize negative outcomes, but risk messages do not always emphasize the negative outcomes. Budweiser’s designated driver campaign communicates risk by focusing on safety. “What’s the perfect party plan?” (“Designated Driver Campaigns,” 2009). According to Budweiser, “Great parties include friends, fun and a designated driver to make sure everyone gets home safely. Please join the 137 million American adults who have been or used a designated driver” (“Designated Driver Campaigns,” 2009). The Ad Council also provides examples of emphasizing positive outcomes in risk messages. For example, in its booster seat campaign the Council uses a play on Cinderella by picturing a young girl sitting in a booster seat in Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage with the caption, “Make sure your little pumpkin gets there safely. Kids 4’9” and Under Need a Booster Seat” (adcouncil.org, 2005).

But stories and anecdotes are not strategic communicators’ only option to relay risk information. Statistical information is also used to convey risk information. An alternative message from the Budweiser designated driver campaign uses statistical information to relay the positive, normative behavior of choosing designated drivers. The message says, “Seventy-eight percent of people feel that their companion is not truthful on the first date. Eight percent of available men live with their mother. Forty percent of people end up marrying their first love. More than 154 million Americans have been or have used a designated driver” (designateddriver.com). The Ad Council’s booster seat campaign also uses statistical information to relay the positive outcome of booster seat usage: “The #1 killer of children is car crashes. With a booster seat, your child is 59% less likely to be injured in a car crash. If they’re under 4’9” tall they should be in a booster seat. It raises them up for a proper fit. And the right fit makes all the difference to their future” (adcouncil.org).

As these examples demonstrate, individuals frequently encounter risk messages in the media. Risk messages that emphasize positive and negative outcomes can be found in local and national newscasts, storylines in prime time drama, soap operas, public service announcements, magazines and other print based sources. These messages can raise awareness of health and environmental issues, provide an environment for attitude, intention, and behavioral changes, and produce strong affective and cognitive responses (Green, 2006). It is these issues that are at the heart of the current research.

While explanations for persuasiveness abound in the literature, there has been relatively little empirical examination of narrative persuasion in the realm of risk communication. This is surprising because of the overwhelming number of health and environmental storylines that include risk elements. A quick flip through the TV Guide Channel on a cable system reveals health programming, which often includes risk elements, such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “ER,” Fox network’s “House, M.D.,” and cable programs such as “I Lost It,” “Intervention,” and “Dr. G Medical Examiner.” These programs are in addition to reports in evening newscasts and news magazine programs, public service announcements, and newspapers, where health and environmental risks are often highlighted.

One approach to examine the persuasiveness of risk messages is through narrative transportation (Green & Brock, 2000). Transportation has been described as a “distinct mental process, an integrative melding of attention, imagery, and feelings” (Green & Brock, 2000, p. 701). When a reader is transported into the text she should report a loss of physical and or psychological facts or awareness (Green & Brock, 2000). This loss of access in turn reduces the reader’s ability to counterargue the text’s message.

Although the literature on transportation theory focuses on narratives and the persuasive benefits of being “lost” in a text, Green (2000) has pointed out that narratives are not the only message type that may induce the transportive experience. A stirring speech or other types of communication could be transporting as well. Many risk messages in fact are reports of scientific research, which include statistical information or simply recommendations for behavior modification. The extent to which statistical evidence could be transporting has not been explicitly tested, but the persuasiveness of narrative versus statistical messages has been examined by dozens of studies, which will be discussed in Chapter 2.

In addition to differences between different types of messages, this dissertation examines messages that emphasize positive or negative outcomes of risky behaviors. Studies of the impact of valence on persuasion outcomes tend to come from several bodies of literature, but this study focuses on two: framing and the negativity bias.

Gain and loss frames can be operationalized as emphasizing the benefits of adopting behaviors in persuasive appeals and loss frames as emphasizing the costs of not adopting the behavior. However, perhaps in part because of differences in operationalization, the literature on framing research in the area of health has produced mixed results. Some suggest gain frames are more persuasive (e.g. Schneider, Salovey, Pallonen, Mundorf, & Smith, 2001) and others that loss frames have a persuasive advantage (e.g. Maheswaran & Levy, 1990). One explanation, transportation, will be examined in the current research. These mixed results could be the result of variation in the levels of transportation among the messages. If both gain- and loss-framed messages have the same level of transportation, one would expect that there would be no advantage to a gain versus a loss frame. Alternatively, if the loss-framed message were more transporting than a gain-framed message, one would expect a persuasive advantage for the loss-framed message.

Other studies have examined valence with regard to the negativity bias literature, which suggests, “negative events appear to elicit more physiological, affective, cognitive, and behavioral activity and prompt more cognitive analysis than neutral or positive events” (Taylor, 1991, p. 67). In other words, people tend to pay more attention to negative information and therefore should be persuaded more by negatively-valenced information, loss frames, than from positively-valenced information. The negativity bias also suggests that negative stimuli evoke stronger emotional reactions (Taylor, 1991).

This dissertation seeks to examine the persuasiveness of narrative versus statistical evidence and message framing and the ways these evidence types affect narrative transportation, attitude change, and behavioral intentions. Specifically the study will examine a potential mediator of the relationship between evidence type and framing and behavioral intentions, transportation. In addition, the study will examine several potential mediators of the relationship between transportation and behavioral intentions.

These mediators include perceived persuasiveness and cognitive and affective responses.

The following chapters will examine literature, propose hypotheses and research questions, describe methods, measures and stimulus materials, report results of hypothesis and research question testing, and interpret the findings.

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