Effects of self-transcendence on neural responses to persuasive messages and health behavior change.

Self-transcendence refers to a shift in mindset from focusing on self-interests to the well-being of others. We offer an integrative neural model of self-transcendence in the context of persuasive messaging by examining the mechanisms of self-transcendence in promoting receptivity to health messages and behavior change. Specifically, we posited that focusing on values and activities that transcend the self can allow people to see that their self-worth is not tied to a specific behavior in question, and in turn become more receptive to subsequent, otherwise threatening health information. To test whether inducing self-transcendent mindsets before message delivery would help overcome defensiveness and increase receptivity, we used two priming tasks, affirmation and compassion, to elicit a transcendent mindset among 220 sedentary adults. As preregistered, those who completed a self-transcendence task before health message exposure, compared with controls, showed greater increases in objectively logged levels of physical activity throughout the following month. In the brain, self-transcendence tasks up-regulated activity in a region of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, chosen for its role in positive valuation and reward processing. During subsequent health message exposure, self-transcendence priming was associated with increased activity in subregions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, implicated in self-related processing and positive valuation, which predicted later decreases in sedentary behavior. The present findings suggest that having a positive self-transcendent mindset can increase behavior change, in part by increasing neural receptivity to health messaging.

Message self and social relevance increases intentions to share content: Correlational and causal evidence from six studies.

Information sharing within social networks can catalyze widespread attitudinal and behavioral change and the chance to share information with others has been characterized as inherently valuable to people. But what are the sources of value and how might they be leveraged to promote sharing? We test ideas from the value-based virality model that the value of sharing increases when people perceive messages as more relevant to themselves and to people they know, resulting in stronger intentions to share. We extend this work by considering how sharing context-broadcasting to a wide audience or narrowcasting directly to someone-may alter these relationships. Six online studies with adults in the United States (N participants = 3,727; messages = 362; message ratings = 30,954) showed robust evidence that self and social relevance are positively and uniquely related to sharing intentions within- and between-person. Specification curve analysis showed these relationships were consistent across message content (COVID-19, voting, general health, climate change), medium (social media post and news articles), and sharing context (broad- and narrowcasting). A preregistered experiment showed that manipulating the self and social relevance of messages through a framing manipulation causally increased sharing intentions. These causal effects were mediated by changes in both self and social relevance, but the relative strength of the causal pathways differed depending on sharing context. These findings extend existing models of information sharing, and highlight self and social relevance as psychological mechanisms that motivate information sharing that can be targeted to promote sharing across contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Brain system integration and message consistent health behavior change.

OBJECTIVE: Modifiable behaviors, including physical activity and sedentary behavior, are important determinants of health, and messages are important tools for influencing these behaviors. Functional neuroimaging research suggests that activity in regions of the brain's default mode and salience systems are independently associated with attending to health promoting messages. However, it remains unclear how these brain systems interact during exposure to persuasive messages and how this interaction relates to subsequent behavior change. Here, we examine how between-person differences in the relative integration between default mode and salience systems while viewing health messages relates to changes in health behavior. METHOD: Using wrist-worn accelerometers, we logged physical activity in 150 participants (mean age = 33.17 years, 64% women; 43% Black, 37% white, 7% Asian, 5% Hispanic, and 8% other) continuously for an average of 10 days. Participants then viewed health messages encouraging physical activity while undergoing functional MRI (fMRI) and completed an additional month where physical activity was logged and the health messages were reinforced with daily text reminders. RESULTS: Individuals with higher default mode and salience system integration during health message exposure were more likely to decrease their sedentary behavior and increase light physical activity in the month following fMRI than participants with lower brain integration. CONCLUSIONS: Interactions between the salience and default mode systems are associated with message receptivity and subsequent behavior change, highlighting the value of expanding the focus from the role of single brain regions in studying health behavior change to larger-scale connectivity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Purpose in Life, Loneliness, and Protective Health Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Social distancing, while effective in slowing the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), can increase social isolation. The current preregistered study examined purpose in life as a psychological resource that may buffer against loneliness and increase intentions to engage in health-protective behaviors. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, 517 adults (mean = 37.71, SD = 11.30; range = 19-73) reported their levels of purpose in life, current and prepandemic levels of loneliness, and degrees to which they intended to engage in behaviors known to prevent the spread of COVID-19. RESULTS: Across age, having a stronger sense of purpose in life was associated with lower loneliness, as well as greater intentions to engage in COVID-protective behaviors. Higher loneliness was associated with lower intentions to maintain social distance and engage in additional health promotion behaviors such as handwashing. However, this link was not present at higher levels of purpose in life. Older age was also associated with less loneliness, but not for individuals with lower levels of purpose in life. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Results suggest that psychological resources such as purpose in life are associated with increased protective health behaviors. Furthermore, purpose in life may reduce loneliness and counteract the negative effects of stressors that diminish the willingness to engage in health-protective behaviors. Our data also highlight resilience among older individuals in times of isolation during a global pandemic.

Social networks and neural receptivity to persuasive health messages.

OBJECTIVE: Health-related norms in social networks can influence whether people are open to health behavior change. Yet, little is known about how social networks relate to the ways individual brains respond to persuasive health messaging. The current study focuses on ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) activity as an index of neural receptivity to health messages that may be related to behavior change. The study tested whether health-related norms and perceived physical activity levels within participants' social networks are associated with neural receptivity to health messages. METHOD: Adults who initially reported under 200 minutes/week of physical activity (N = 146) rated the perceived physical activity levels of, and closeness to, each person in their core social network. VMPFC activity was monitored using fMRI while participants viewed persuasive health messages promoting physical activity. Longitudinal changes in sedentary behavior were objectively logged using wrist-worn accelerometers throughout a 2-week baseline and the month following the fMRI scan. RESULTS: Higher levels of perceived physical activity in participants' social networks were associated with greater VMPFC activity during message exposure, which in turn were associated with greater decreases in sedentary minutes. By contrast, greater closeness to physically inactive social ties was associated with lower VMPFC activity. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived norms in social networks relate to neural receptivity to health messaging. In particular, closeness to physically inactive ties is associated with lower neural receptivity to health messages encouraging physical activity, which may undermine the effectiveness of health messages. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).