Health communications: Going from aversion to persuasion

Abstract

In this talk, I will present a sampling of studies that investigate factors and processes that shape health persuasion. We will examine whether and why people are averse to health persuasion and how these barriers can be overcome. In particular, we will look at three main influences and their interactions on heath message processing: (a) motivational sources such as goals, reactance, and moral identity, (b) affective sources such as specific emotions arising from or unrelated to the health message, and (c) social forces such as stigma and norms that can aid or impede the effectiveness of health messages. Understanding these influences will expand our knowledge of consumer psychology and help us design better health messages.