Can we distinguish mixed from ambiguous emotions and morality?

The neurocognitive model of Mixed and Ambiguous Emotions and Morality (MA-EM) makes a relevant case for putting non-unidimensional emotions and morality more prominently on the research agenda. However, existing research challenges its assumptions about the distinction between mixed and ambiguous emotions and morality, and how they relate to reflective versus simulative processing routes, in three respects. First, the emotional state of being moved is generally conceptualized as a non-ambiguous rather than an ambiguous emotion. Second, mixed emotions have been found to elicit reflection rather than simulation. Third, the morality of narrative characters is typically perceived as mixed rather than ambiguous.

The effectiveness of narrative versus informational smoking education on smoking beliefs, attitudes and intentions of low-educated adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: This study tests the effectiveness of narrative versus informational smoking education on smoking beliefs, attitudes and intentions of low-educated adolescents. DESIGN: A field experiment with three waves of data collection was conducted. Participants (N = 256) were students who attend lower secondary education. At the first and third waves, they completed a questionnaire. At the second wave, 50.8% of the participants read a smoking education booklet in narrative form and 49.2% read a booklet in informational form. After reading, all participants also completed a questionnaire at wave 2. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Beliefs about negative consequences of smoking, attitudes towards smoking and intentions to smoke were measured. RESULTS: Repeated measures analyses with time as a within-subjects factor and condition as a between-subjects factor showed that beliefs about smoking were more negative at Wave 2 compared to Wave 1, irrespective of condition. However, attitudes towards smoking were more positive at Wave 3 compared to Wave 1 when participants had read the narrative version. CONCLUSION: These results show that narrative smoking education is not more effective than informational smoking education for low-educated adolescents and can even have an unintended effect for this target group by making attitudes towards smoking more positive.

Smoking Education for Low-Educated Adolescents: Comparing Print and Audiovisual Messages.

This study aims to provide insight into which modality is most effective for educating low-educated adolescents about smoking. It compares the persuasive effects of print and audiovisual smoking education materials. We conducted a field experiment with two conditions (print vs. video) and three measurement times (Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3). A total of 221 high school students in the second year of the lowest levels of education in the Netherlands participated at all three time points of the study. Results showed that participants in both conditions had more negative beliefs about smoking after being exposed to the smoking education than before, but there were no differences between the print and video version in this effect. However, the video version did make the attitude toward smoking more negative at Time 3 compared to baseline, whereas the text version did not, which suggests that the video version was more effective for educating low-educated adolescents about smoking.

The effects of narrative versus non-narrative information in school health education about alcohol drinking for low educated adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Traditionally most health education materials are written in an expository non-narrative format. Scholars have argued that the effectiveness of materials may increase when these texts are replaced by narrative texts, and that the non-narrative texts should be replaced by narrative texts. However, no previous studies have tested these claims in the context of school health education for low educated adolescents. This study aims to do so for an existing preventive health education intervention about alcohol for low educated adolescents. Based on the empirical findings of previous studies, it is expected that the claims about narratives being more effective than non-narrative texts are not true for effects on knowledge. Instead non-narrative texts are expected to have a stronger impact on this outcome variable. For attitude towards alcohol and intention to drink alcohol the claims are expected to be true, because participants are expected to be less aware of the persuasive intent of the narrative texts, which would make them less resistant. As a result, narrative texts are expected to have a stronger effect on attitude and intention. METHODS: This study compares the effects on knowledge, attitude towards alcohol, and intention to drink alcohol of both information formats in a two-condition (non-narrative vs. narrative information) experiment with repeated measures (pre-measurement, immediate post-measurement, and delayed post-measurement). The experiment was conducted amongst 296 students of the two lowest levels of the Dutch secondary education system. RESULTS: The results showed immediate effects on knowledge and attitude towards alcohol, which did not differ between conditions and school levels. These effects did not persist over time. There were no effects on intention to drink alcohol. CONCLUSION: It is concluded non-narrative and narrative information are equally effective in the context of school health education, suggesting the claims that scholars have made about the superior effects of narrative texts are not true. Given the fact that narrative texts are more expensive to develop, policy makers may not be advised to prefer these types of texts over the traditionally used non-narrative texts.

Effects of Issue Involvement and Framing of a Responsible Drinking Message on Attitudes, Intentions, and Behavior.

To decrease the prevalence and the amount of alcohol consumption among students, health messages advocating responsible alcohol behavior can be used. However, it is unclear whether responsible drinking messages are most effective when they use a gain frame, presenting the advantages of responsible drinking, or a loss frame, presenting the disadvantages of irresponsible drinking. This study tests the effects of framing and the moderating role of involvement with the issue of responsible drinking. A three-wave, between-subjects, experimental study was conducted, in which participants (N = 90) were exposed to either a gain- or loss-framed message about responsible drinking behavior at Wave 2. At all three waves, attitudes, intentions and behavior toward responsible drinking were measured. Results showed that for participants with low issue- involvement, a gain frame led to more positive attitudes and intentions toward responsible alcohol use, whereas a loss frame did not have any effects for them. For participants with high issue involvement, a loss frame led to more positive attitudes and intentions toward responsible alcohol use, whereas a gain frame did not have an effect on attitude and only a delayed effect on intention. However, there were no effects of frame and issue involvement on adhering to the guideline of responsible alcohol use and average drinking behavior.

The differential impact of statistical and narrative evidence on beliefs, attitude, and intention: a meta-analysis.

Although "evidence" is often used as an important argument in persuasive health campaigns, it remains unclear what type of evidence has the strongest impact on particular outcome variables. We conducted a meta-analysis in which the effects of statistical and narrative evidence on beliefs, attitude, and intention were separately compared. Statistical evidence was found to have a stronger influence than narrative evidence on beliefs and attitude, whereas narrative evidence had a stronger influence on intention. We explain these findings in terms of the match between the specific characteristics of the two types of evidence and those of the outcome variables. Statistical evidence, beliefs, and attitude all relate primarily to cognitive responses, whereas both narrative evidence and intention relate more specifically to affective responses. We conclude that communication professionals developing health campaigns should match the type of evidence to the main communication objectives.

Alcohol makes others dislike you: reducing the positivity of teens' beliefs and attitudes toward alcohol use.

This study tests the effects of the portrayal of negative consequences of alcohol use on beliefs and attitudes toward alcohol consumption. In a between-subjects experiment (N = 108), participants were randomly assigned to watch one of three conditions. One group of participants watched a version of an edited episode of the reality program Jersey Shore in which alcohol use had negative consequences, another group watched a version of the episode in which alcohol use had more positive consequences, and a control group was not exposed to any program. Results showed that participants who saw the version with negative consequences had more negative beliefs about alcohol and more negative attitudes toward beer than participants who saw the more positive consequences and participants in the control condition. This indicates that the portrayal of negative consequences can have positive outcomes for viewers' health beliefs and attitudes, reducing their positivity toward alcohol use.