Abstract

This study uses evolutionary psychology to examine how the use of disease appeals affects unhealthy behavioural intentions among consumers with different life-history strategies (LHS). Do they invest more resources in survival (slow strategists) or more resources in reproduction (fast strategists)? The results of two experimental studies indicate that behavioural intention to drink alcohol or to smoke varies as a function of the type of appeal used and the LHS of the consumer. Slow strategists’ behavioural intention is lower when a reproductive disease appeal is used, while fast strategists’ behavioural intention is lower when a lethal disease appeal is used. The interactive effect is moderated by message framing and appears only for negatively framed messages, but not for positively framed messages. These results contribute to advertising research by providing an evolutionary explanation for the effects of disease appeals in preventive health communication and implications for consumer well-being.

摘要

本研究使用进化心理学来研究疾病诉求的使用如何影响具有不同生活史策略 (LHS) 的消费者的不健康行为意图。他们是在生存上投入更多资源（慢战略家）还是在繁殖上投入更多资源（快战略家）？两项实验研究的结果表明，饮酒或吸烟的行为意图随所使用的诉求类型和消费者的 LHS 的不同而不同。当使用生殖疾病诉求时，慢策略者的行为意图较低，而当使用致命疾病诉求时，快速策略者的行为意图较低。交互效果由消息框架调节，仅出现在负面框架消息中，但不会出现在正面框架消息中。