Department of Communication, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY, USA.
Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia, PA, USA.
J Health Commun. 2020 May 3;25(5):361-373. doi: 10.1080/10810730.2020.1767236. Epub 2020 May 31.
Many emotional appeal theorists argue that negative affect and efficacy work together to promote adaptive behavioral responses to a threat, yet most research on cigarette warning label messages has not examined the intersection between negative affect, hope, and efficacy. The current study tests effects of exposure, at different points in a sequence, to an efficacy-focused warning label in the context of threat-focused warning labels. We conducted an online, between- and within-subjects experiment with 398 adult smokers, testing the effects of warning label exposure on negative affect, hope, efficacy beliefs, and intentions to quit. Exposure to the efficacy-focused "Quit" label aroused higher levels of reported hope and lower levels of reported negative affect than threat-focused labels. Negative affect increased with each additional exposure to a threat-focused warning label, regardless of the order in which respondents saw the "Quit" label. Exposure to the "Quit" label (within a larger set of three threat-focused labels) led to greater self-efficacy but did not influence response efficacy or intentions to quit. We conclude that "Quit" messaging on warning labels can inspire both hopeful feelings and efficacy beliefs. Future research should identify the optimal balance between threat-focused and hopeful quit messages.
许多情感诉求理论认为，消极情绪和效能感共同作用，促进对威胁做出适应性的行为反应，但大多数关于香烟警示标签信息的研究并未检验消极情绪、希望和效能感之间的交集。本研究在以威胁为重点的警示标签背景下，检验了在序列的不同点接触以效能为重点的警示标签的效果。我们对 398 名成年吸烟者进行了在线、组间和组内实验，测试了警示标签接触对消极情绪、希望、效能感信念和戒烟意愿的影响。与以威胁为重点的标签相比，接触以效能为重点的“戒烟”标签会引起更高的希望感和更低的消极情绪报告。无论受访者看到“戒烟”标签的顺序如何，接触更多的以威胁为重点的警示标签都会增加消极情绪。接触“戒烟”标签（在三个以威胁为重点的标签中）会导致更高的自我效能感，但不会影响反应效能或戒烟意愿。我们的结论是，警示标签上的“戒烟”信息可以激发希望感和效能感。未来的研究应该确定以威胁为重点和充满希望的戒烟信息之间的最佳平衡。
