Message Design Choices Don't Make Much Difference to Persuasiveness and Can't Be Counted On-Not Even When Moderating Conditions Are Specified.

Persuaders face many message design choices: narrative or non-narrative format, gain-framed or loss-framed appeals, one-sided or two-sided messages, and so on. But a review of 1,149 studies of 30 such message variations reveals that, although there are statistically significant differences in persuasiveness between message forms, it doesn't make much difference to persuasiveness which option is chosen (as evidenced by small mean effect sizes, that is, small differences in persuasiveness: median mean rs of about 0.10); moreover, choosing the on-average-more-effective option does not consistently confer a persuasive advantage (as evidenced by 95% prediction intervals that include both positive and negative values). Strikingly, these results obtain even when multiple moderating conditions are specified. Implications for persuasive message research and practice are discussed.

Storybridging: Four steps for constructing effective health narratives.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a practical step-by-step approach to constructing narrative health interventions in response to the mixed results and wide diversity of narratives used in health-related narrative persuasion research. METHOD: Development work was guided by essential narrative characteristics as well as principles enshrined in the Health Action Process Approach. RESULTS: The 'storybridging' method for constructing health narratives is described as consisting of four concrete steps: (a) identifying the stage of change, (b) identifying the key elements, (c) building the story, and (d) pre-testing the story. These steps are illustrated by means of a case study in which an effective narrative health intervention was developed for Dutch truck drivers: a high-risk, underprivileged occupational group. CONCLUSION: Although time and labour intensive, the Storybridging approach suggests integrating the target audience as an important stakeholder throughout the development process. Implications and recommendations are provided for health promotion targeting truck drivers specifically and for constructing narrative health interventions in general.

Evoking and Measuring Identification with Narrative Characters - A Linguistic Cues Framework.

Current research on identification with narrative characters poses two problems. First, although identification is seen as a dynamic process of which the intensity varies during reading, it is usually measured by means of post-reading questionnaires containing self-report items. Second, it is not clear which linguistic characteristics evoke identification. The present paper proposes that an interdisciplinary framework allows for more precise manipulations and measurements of identification, which will ultimately advance our understanding of the antecedents and nature of this process. The central hypothesis of our Linguistic Cues Framework is that identification with a narrative character is a multidimensional experience for which different dimensions are evoked by different linguistic cues. The first part of the paper presents a literature review on identification, resulting in a renewed conceptualization of identification which distinguishes six dimensions: a spatiotemporal, a perceptual, a cognitive, a moral, an emotional, and an embodied dimension. The second part argues that each of these dimensions is influenced by specific linguistic cues which represent various aspects of the narrative character's perspective. The proposed relations between linguistic cues and identification dimensions are specified in six propositions. The third part discusses what psychological and neurocognitive methods enable the measurement of the various identification dimensions in order to test the propositions. By establishing explicit connections between the linguistic characteristics of narratives and readers' physical, psychological, and neurocognitive responses to narratives, this paper develops a research agenda for future empirical research on identification with narrative characters.

An analysis of health promotion materials for Dutch truck drivers: Off target and too complex?

BACKGROUND: Despite various health promotion initiatives, unfavorable figures regarding Dutch truck drivers' eating behaviors, exercise behaviors, and absenteeism have not improved. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to obtain a better understanding of the low level of effectiveness of current health interventions for Dutch truck drivers by examining to what extent these are tailored to the target group's particular mindset (focus of content) and health literacy skills (presentation of content). METHODS: The article analyzes 21 health promotion materials for Dutch truck drivers using a two-step approach: (a) an analysis of the materials' focus, guided by the Health Action Process Approach; and (b) an argumentation analysis, guided by pragma-dialectics. RESULTS: The corpus analysis revealed: (a) a predominant focus on the motivation phase; and (b) in line with the aim of motivating the target group, a consistent use of pragmatic arguments, which were typically presented in an implicit way. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that existing health promotion materials for Dutch truck drivers are not sufficiently tailored to the target group's mindset and health literacy skills. Recommendations are offered to develop more tailored/effective health interventions targeting this high-risk, underserved occupational group.

Health promotion in the trucking setting: Understanding Dutch truck drivers' road to healthy lifestyle changes.

BACKGROUND: The working environment, the nature of the work, and the characteristics of truck drivers as a social group typically pose great challenges for the truck drivers' health and health promotion activities aiming to improve it. OBJECTIVE: The purpose was to obtain a better understanding of (a) Dutch truck drivers' perceptions of health and lifestyle themes, and (b) the challenges they experience in their pursuit of a more healthy lifestyle, as a guiding framework for the development of health interventions targeting this occupational group. METHODS: In this qualitative study, we conducted and analyzed 20 semi-structured interviews and seven cases of participant observations with Dutch truck drivers. Grounded theory was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Our findings illustrate that Dutch truck drivers wish to improve their lifestyle but have unproductive associations with concepts of healthy living as well as a tendency to downplay their health risks. In addition, they experience barriers within their work and personal environment that prevent them from translating their intentions into actual lifestyle changes. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the insights derived from the interviews, we discuss recommendations for the development of more effective health promotion interventions for truck drivers.

Targeting implicit approach reactions to snack food in children: Effects on intake.

OBJECTIVE: Implicit approach reactions to energy-dense snack food can facilitate unhealthy eating in children. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test whether modifying implicit reactions to snack food by means of a go/no-go task can reduce consumption of this food. The effectiveness of this intervention on actual snack intake after exposure to a food or a control advertisement was tested. METHOD: Children (133; age range = 7-10 years) played an advergame promoting either energy-dense food or nonfood products. Subsequently, children conducted either a go/no-go food task in which the advertised food was consistently associated with no-go cues, or a go/no-go control task in which colored circles were consistently associated with no-go cues. Afterward, they could eat the advertised food and a new food. Candy intake was weighed and caloric intake was determined. RESULTS: Results show that children who performed the go/no-go food task consumed significantly and considerably fewer calories (34%) than the children who carried out the control task. No main effect of type of advertisement was found. Furthermore, the effect of the go/no-go food task was similar after each type of advertisement, similar for advertised and new foods, and was significant for both girls and boys. CONCLUSION: Targeting implicit reactions to high-energy snacks proved effective in decreasing intake of snacks in children. Furthermore, the previously reported stimulating effect of food promoting advergames on intake may disappear when a short cognitive task is presented directly after the game. Future work should evaluate the clinical implications of these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record