ABSTRACT

Narrative appeals are an effective way of shaping attitudes toward health-related topics. However, questions persist regarding the contexts in which narratives hold an advantage over other commonly used message formats. The current article compares narrative appeals to statistical appeals, one commonly used message format, in the context of HIV testing intentions. In addition, the current study combines the two message formats to determine whether there may be an additive benefit to using the two formats in tandem this important health context. In an attempt to more fully understand the relationship between message format and persuasion, several potentially important covariates are considered including perceived elaboration, need for cognition, health literacy, subjective numeracy and individual differences in message receivers. Results indicate an advantage for the combined message format on HIV testing intentions when controlling for need for cognition, health literacy, and subjective numeracy. Implications are discussed for use of the combined message in health persuasion research.

摘要

叙事性诉求是塑造对健康相关主题的态度的有效方法。但是，关于上下文比其他常用消息格式具有优势的问题仍然存在。在艾滋病毒检测意图的背景下，本文将叙述性诉求与统计性诉求（一种常用的消息格式）进行了比较。此外，当前的研究结合了两种消息格式，以确定在重要的健康环境中同时使用这两种格式是否会带来额外的好处。为了更全面地理解消息格式和说服力之间的关系，考虑了一些潜在的重要协变量，包括感知的细化程度，认知需求，健康素养，主观计算能力和消息接收者的个体差异。结果表明，在控制对认知，健康素养和主观计算的需求时，组合消息格式对于HIV检测意图具有优势。讨论了在健康说服研究中使用组合信息的含义。