Self-Persuasion in Health Communication: Reducing Alcohol Consumption by Framing Antialcohol Messages as Questions

• In Event: Alcohol, Diet, Behavior Change: High-Density Panel in Public Health Communication

Abstract

Self-persuasion (i.e., self-generation of arguments) as an influence technique has been shown to be more effective than commonly used direct-persuasion (i.e., providing arguments; Aronson, 1999). The application of this technique in mediated health communication, however, has not been studied. In two experiments we examined whether self-persuasion can be successfully applied to anti-alcohol media communications by framing the message as a question (experiment 1) and whether this framing is more effective than direct-persuasion in reducing actual alcohol consumption (experiment 2).

Results from the first experiment indicate that exposure to an anti-alcohol media message framed as a question results in more self-generated arguments ‘why to drink less alcohol’ and more favorable message reactions than framing the same message as a statement. The second experiment further showed that the self-persuasion messages were more effective in reducing actual alcohol consumption than the direct-persuasion versions or no intervention.

Authors

• Jeroen Gerardus Bartolomeus Loman, Behavioural Science Institute / Radboud University Nijmegen

• Barbara Müller, Radboud U Nijmegen

• Moniek Buijzen, Radboud U Nijmegen

• Arnoud Oude Groote Beverborg, U of Twente