ABSTRACT

Research on sexual violence and bullying has highlighted the importance of bystander intervention. This empirical study focuses on public health messaging that can induce positive behavior change and help curb domestic violence, a global human rights and health issue. With psychological distance as the theoretical framework, the current study explored the persuasive impact of emotional ad appeals – shame (other-focused) and hope (ego-focused) – on varying levels of perceived peer support among participants from India. From a regression analysis, the findings showed that hope was more effective than shame in generating favorable attitudes toward the ad and stronger reporting intentions. Furthermore, hope was more effective among those with low perceived peer support, while either emotion worked well for those with high perceived peer support. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

摘要

对性暴力和欺凌的研究强调了旁观者干预的重要性。这项实证研究侧重于公共卫生信息，这些信息可以引起积极的行为改变，并有助于遏制家庭暴力这一全球人权和健康问题。以心理距离为理论框架，本研究探讨了情感广告诉求——羞耻（以他人为中心）和希望（以自我为中心）——对印度参与者感知到的不同程度的同伴支持的说服力。通过回归分析，研究结果表明，希望比羞耻更有效地产生对广告的积极态度和更强的报告意图。此外，希望在那些感知到的同伴支持较低的人中更有效，而这两种情绪对于那些感知到的同伴支持度较高的人来说效果很好。