Gain/loss framing moderates the VMPFC's response to persuasive messages when behaviors have personal outcomes.

Activity within the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) during encoding of persuasive messages has been shown to predict message-consistent behaviors both within scanner samples and at the population level. This suggests that neuroimaging can aid in the development of better persuasive messages, but little is known about how the brain responds to different message features. Building on past findings, the current study found that gain-framed persuasive messages elicited more VMPFC activation than loss-framed messages, but only when messages addressed outcomes that would be experienced by participants directly. Participants also perceived gain-framed messages as more effective than loss-framed messages, and self-reported perceptions of message effectiveness were positively correlated with VMPFC activation. These results support theories that VMPFC activity during message encoding indexes perceptions of value and self-relevance and demonstrate that established theories of persuasion can improve the understanding of the neural correlates of persuasion.

Effects of Gain/Loss Frames on Telling Lies of Omission and Commission.

An increased focus on fake news and misinformation is currently emerging. But what does it mean when information is designated as "fake?" Research on deception has focused on lies of commission, in which people disclose something false as true. However, people can also lie by omission, by withholding important yet true information. In this research, we investigate when people are more likely to tell a lie of omission. In three studies, with tests among undergraduates, online sample respondents, and candidates for U.S. Senate, we found that people in a gain frame were more likely to lie by omission (vs. commission), and vice versa for a loss frame. Moreover, participants rated lies of commission in a gain frame as the least acceptable type of deception, suggesting why people may avoid telling this kind of lie. Overall, our results emphasize that from frame-to-frame, lying is not only different in degree but different in kind.

Fostering climate change consensus: The role of intimacy in group discussions.

This study examined if creating intimacy in a group discussion is more effective toward reaching consensus about climate change than a focus on information. Participants were randomly assigned to either a group that spent the first part of an online discussion engaging in self-disclosure and focusing on shared values (intimacy condition) or discussing information from an article about climate change (information condition). Afterward, all groups were given the same instructions to try to come to group consensus on their opinions about climate change. Participants in the intimacy condition had higher ratings of social cohesion, group attraction, task interdependence, and collective engagement and lower ratings of ostracism than the information condition. Intimacy groups were more likely to reach consensus, with ostracism and the emotional tone of discussion mediating this effect. Participants were more likely to change their opinion to reflect that climate change is real in the intimacy than information condition.

Linguistic Predictors of Problematic Drinking in Alcohol-related Facebook Posts.

Emerging adults often increase problematic drinking during college. Although they generally do not seek help for problematic drinking, college students discuss their drinking on social media. This study followed college students' Facebook profiles from the inception of their attendance at a university and identified alcohol-related posts. Within 28 days of their first alcohol-related Facebook post, participants were interviewed to assess problematic drinking (binge drinking episodes and number of drinks). Linguistic analysis of alcohol-related Facebook posts found that use of negative emotion language and swear words were related to problematic drinking, in support of proposed hypotheses. Results are situated within alcohol use disorder and health research examining the link between problematic drinking and anxiety, deviant behavior, and negative emotions.