Amsterdam School of Communications Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Br J Soc Psychol. 2010 Mar;49(Pt 1):143-53. doi: 10.1348/014466609X425337. Epub 2009 Apr 8.
Both affective and cognitive evaluations of behaviours have been allocated various positions in theoretical models of decision making. Most often, they have been studied as direct determinants of either intention or overall evaluation, but these two possible positions have never been compared. The aim of this study was to determine whether affective and cognitive evaluations influence intention directly, or whether their influence is mediated by overall evaluation. A sample of 300 university students filled in questionnaires on their affective, cognitive, and overall evaluations in respect of 20 health behaviours. The data were interpreted using mediation analyses with the application of path modelling. Both affective and cognitive evaluations were found to have significantly predicted intention. The influence of affective evaluation was largely direct for each of the behaviours studied, whereas that of cognitive evaluation was partially direct and partially mediated by overall evaluation. These results indicate that decisions regarding the content of persuasive communication (affective vs. cognitive) are highly dependent on the theoretical model chosen. It is suggested that affective evaluation should be included as a direct determinant of intention in theories of decision making when predicting health behaviours.
情感和认知评价在决策理论模型中被赋予了不同的地位。它们通常被作为意图或整体评价的直接决定因素进行研究，但这两种可能的立场从未被比较过。本研究旨在确定情感和认知评价是直接影响意图，还是通过整体评价来影响意图。一个由 300 名大学生组成的样本填写了关于 20 种健康行为的情感、认知和整体评价问卷。数据采用中介分析和路径建模进行解释。情感和认知评价都显著预测了意图。对于研究中的每一种行为，情感评价的影响主要是直接的，而认知评价的影响则部分是直接的，部分是通过整体评价来中介的。这些结果表明，关于说服性沟通内容（情感与认知）的决策高度依赖于所选择的理论模型。建议在预测健康行为时，将情感评价作为决策理论中意图的直接决定因素之一。
