Jessop Donna C, Sparks Paul, Jessop Laura, Dodds Lauren, Lynch Sarah
School of Psychology, University of Sussex, UK.
Br J Health Psychol. 2016 Nov;21(4):956-972. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12209.
Two studies explored the relative efficacy of a morality-based versus a competence-based self-affirmation manipulation at increasing acceptance of personally relevant health risk information. In accordance with prior theorizing (e.g., Cohen & Sherman, 2014), it was hypothesized that the morality affirmation would be more effective than the competence affirmation in such contexts, as the former targets a different domain to that threatened by the health risk information.
Both studies employed a cross-sectional experimental design.
Participants were presented with a morality affirmation, competence affirmation, or no affirmation control prior to reading a message about the risks of (1) not engaging in daily dental flossing (Study 1) and (2) red meat consumption (Study 2). Participants subsequently completed a number of measures assessing acceptance of the message.
In line with predictions, findings from both studies demonstrated that the morality affirmation precipitated greater acceptance of personally relevant health risk information compared to the competence affirmation, as reflected in more positive attitudes (Studies 1 and 2) and intentions (Study 1). Study 2's findings further suggested that the superior efficacy of the morality affirmation in health-related contexts could not simply be attributed to a general tendency for this affirmation to outperform the competence affirmation.
The nature of the value affirmed may be a critical factor in determining the success of self-affirmation manipulations in health-related domains. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Self-affirmation has been shown to promote openness to personally relevant health risk information across a variety of behavioural domains. The most frequently utilized self-affirmation manipulation involves participants reflecting on a personally important value; however, participants typically self-select the value they reflect on. This means that the nature of the value that is affirmed may vary from person to person within a given study, seriously limiting the interpretability of the findings. What does this study add? This study manipulated the domain of the value affirmed prior to reading a health risk message. Findings suggest that a morality affirmation is most effective at promoting openness to the message. This study highlights the importance of value domain in determining the success of self-affirmation.
两项研究探讨了基于道德与基于能力的自我肯定操作在提高对个人相关健康风险信息接受度方面的相对效果。根据先前的理论（如Cohen和Sherman，2014），研究假设在这种情况下，道德肯定比能力肯定更有效，因为前者针对的领域与受健康风险信息威胁的领域不同。
两项研究均采用横断面实验设计。
在阅读有关（1）不每天使用牙线的风险（研究1）和（2）食用红肉的风险（研究2）的信息之前，让参与者进行道德肯定、能力肯定或无肯定控制。参与者随后完成了一些评估对该信息接受度的测量。
与预测一致，两项研究的结果都表明，与能力肯定相比，道德肯定能促使对个人相关健康风险信息有更高的接受度，这体现在更积极的态度（研究1和2）和意图（研究1）上。研究2的结果进一步表明，道德肯定在健康相关情境中的优越效果不能简单地归因于这种肯定总体上优于能力肯定的倾向。
所肯定的价值观的性质可能是决定自我肯定操作在健康相关领域成功与否的关键因素。贡献声明 关于这个主题已知的情况是什么？自我肯定已被证明能促进在各种行为领域中对个人相关健康风险信息的开放性。最常用的自我肯定操作是让参与者思考个人重要价值观；然而，参与者通常会自行选择他们思考的价值观。这意味着在给定的研究中，所肯定的价值观的性质可能因人而异，严重限制了研究结果的可解释性。本研究增加了什么？本研究在阅读健康风险信息之前对所肯定的价值观领域进行了操控。研究结果表明，道德肯定在促进对该信息的开放性方面最有效。本研究强调了价值观领域在决定自我肯定成功与否方面的重要性。
