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Journal of the American Medical... Oct 2021
Topics: Health Behavior; Information Technology; Persuasive Communication
PubMed: 34637521
DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocab215 -
Digital Health 2023Addressing gaps in COVID-19 vaccine-hesitancy research, the current study aimed to add depth and nuance to the exploratory research examining vaccine-hesitant groups....
OBJECTIVE
Addressing gaps in COVID-19 vaccine-hesitancy research, the current study aimed to add depth and nuance to the exploratory research examining vaccine-hesitant groups. Using a larger, but more focused conversation occurring on social media, the results can be used by health communicators to frame emotionally resonant messaging to improve COVID-19 vaccine advocacy while also mitigating negative concerns for vaccine-hesitant individuals.
METHODS
Social media mentions were collected using a social media listening software, Brandwatch, to examine topics and sentiments in COVID-19 hesitancy discourse during a period of September 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020. The results from this query included publicly available mentions on two popular social media sites, Twitter and Reddit. The dataset of 14,901 global, English language messages were analyzed using a computer-assisted process in SAS text-mining and Brandwatch software. The data revealed eight unique topics before being analyzed by sentiment.
RESULTS
Among the COVID-19 hesitancy data, trust-related topics emerged that included declining vaccine acceptance, a parallel pandemic of distrust, and a call for politicians to let the scientific process work, among others. Positive sentiment revealed interest in the sources which included healthcare professionals, doctors, and government organizations. Pfizer was found to elicit both positive and negative emotions in the vaccine-hesitancy data. The negative sentiment tended to dominate the hesitancy conversation, accelerating once vaccines hit the market.
CONCLUSIONS
Relevant topics were identified to help support targeted communication, strategically accelerate vaccine acceptance, and mitigate COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among the public. Strategic methods of online and offline messaging tactics are suggested to reach diverse, malleable populations of interest. Topics of personal anecdotes of safety, effectiveness, and recommendations among families are identified as persuasive communication opportunities.
PubMed: 36896330
DOI: 10.1177/20552076231158308 -
JMIR MHealth and UHealth Sep 2022Persuasive technology is an umbrella term that encompasses software (eg, mobile apps) or hardware (eg, smartwatches) designed to influence users to perform preferable...
BACKGROUND
Persuasive technology is an umbrella term that encompasses software (eg, mobile apps) or hardware (eg, smartwatches) designed to influence users to perform preferable behavior once or on a long-term basis. Considering the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices across all socioeconomic groups, user behavior modification thrives under the personalized care that persuasive technology can offer. However, there is no guidance for developing personalized persuasive technologies based on the psychological characteristics of users.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the role that psychological characteristics play in interpreted mobile health (mHealth) screen perceived persuasiveness. In addition, this study aims to explore how users' psychological characteristics drive the perceived persuasiveness of digital health technologies in an effort to assist developers and researchers of digital health technologies by creating more engaging solutions.
METHODS
An experiment was designed to evaluate how psychological characteristics (self-efficacy, health consciousness, health motivation, and the Big Five personality traits) affect the perceived persuasiveness of digital health technologies, using the persuasive system design framework. Participants (n=262) were recruited by Qualtrics International, Inc, using the web-based survey system of the XM Research Service. This experiment involved a survey-based design with a series of 25 mHealth app screens that featured the use of persuasive principles, with a focus on physical activity. Exploratory factor analysis and linear regression were used to evaluate the multifaceted needs of digital health users based on their psychological characteristics.
RESULTS
The results imply that an individual user's psychological characteristics (self-efficacy, health consciousness, health motivation, and extraversion) affect interpreted mHealth screen perceived persuasiveness, and combinations of persuasive principles and psychological characteristics lead to greater perceived persuasiveness. The F test (ie, ANOVA) for model 1 was significant (F=191.806; P<.001), with an adjusted R of 0.208, indicating that the demographic variables explained 20.8% of the variance in perceived persuasiveness. Gender was a significant predictor, with women having higher perceived persuasiveness (P=.008) relative to men. Age was a significant predictor of perceived persuasiveness with individuals aged 40 to 59 years (P<.001) and ≥60 years (P<.001). Model 2 was significant (F=341.035; P<.001), with an adjusted R of 0.403, indicating that the demographic variables self-efficacy, health consciousness, health motivation, and extraversion together explained 40.3% of the variance in perceived persuasiveness.
CONCLUSIONS
This study evaluates the role that psychological characteristics play in interpreted mHealth screen perceived persuasiveness. Findings indicate that self-efficacy, health consciousness, health motivation, extraversion, gender, age, and education significantly influence the perceived persuasiveness of digital health technologies. Moreover, this study showed that varying combinations of psychological characteristics and demographic variables affected the perceived persuasiveness of the primary persuasive technology category.
Topics: Female; Humans; Male; Mobile Applications; Motivation; Persuasive Communication; Self Efficacy; Telemedicine
PubMed: 36103226
DOI: 10.2196/40576 -
Cognitive Psychology Jun 2023The present paper reports an experiment with a two-year-delayed (M = 695 days) follow-up that tests an approach to raising willingness to take political and personal...
The present paper reports an experiment with a two-year-delayed (M = 695 days) follow-up that tests an approach to raising willingness to take political and personal climate actions. Many Americans still do not view climate change as a threat requiring urgent action. Moreover, among American conservatives, higher science literacy is paradoxically associated with higher anthropogenic climate-change skepticism. Our experimental materials were designed to harness the power of two central cognitive constraints - coherence and causal invariance, which map onto two narrative proclivities that anthropologists have identified as universal - to promote climate action across the political spectrum. Towards that goal, the essential role of these constraints in the causal-belief-formation process predicts that climate-change information would be more persuasive when it is embedded in a personal climate-action narrative, the evocation of which can benefit from exposure to parsimonious scientific explanations of indisputable everyday observations, juxtaposed with reasoners' own, typically less coherent explanations, occurring in a context that engages their moral stance. Our brief one-time intervention, conducted in ten U.S. states with the highest level of climate skepticism, showed that across the political spectrum, our materials raised appreciation of science, openness to alternative views, and willingness to take climate actions in the immediate assessment. It also raised how likely were reports two years later of having taken those actions or would have taken them had the opportunity existed, suggesting a long-lasting effect. Our approach adopts the framework that conceptions of reality are representations, and adaptive solutions in that infinite space of representations require cognitive constraints to narrow the search.
Topics: Humans; United States; Climate Change; Motivation; Cognition
PubMed: 37156123
DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2023.101565 -
International Journal of Environmental... Oct 2022Mass media plays an increasingly persuasive role in orienting political decisions, shaping social agendas, influencing individuals' actions, and interpreting scientific...
Mass media plays an increasingly persuasive role in orienting political decisions, shaping social agendas, influencing individuals' actions, and interpreting scientific evidence for the public. With growing scientific understanding of the health, social and environmental consequences of air pollution, there is an urgent need to understand how media coverage frames these links, particularly in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. This paper examines how the Ghanaian print and electronic media houses are covering air pollution issues given increased efforts at reducing air pollution within the country. The main goal of this work is to track the progress of policies to reduce air pollution. We used a qualitative content analysis of selected newspapers (both traditional and online) between the periods 2016 and 2021 and we found that articles on air pollution have been increasing, with more reportage on impact and policy issues compared to causes of air pollution. A focus group with six members of the media confirmed an interest in covering health and environmental issues, particularly coverage of specific diseases and human-interest pieces. This increasing attention is likely associated with intensifying local, national, and international action to improve air quality in Ghana, and growing awareness of the health impacts of air pollution.
Topics: Humans; Ghana; Air Pollution; Mass Media; Communication; Policy
PubMed: 36293823
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192013246 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2022It is a new advertising marketing method for commodity companies to use vloggers to endorse their products, and to influence consumers' attitudes and decisions. In view...
It is a new advertising marketing method for commodity companies to use vloggers to endorse their products, and to influence consumers' attitudes and decisions. In view of this phenomenon, there are few studies on the relationship between vloggers and consumers, and this study aims to explore how the persuasive strategies used by vloggers to promote products influence consumers' purchase intentions. Based on the concepts of Aristotle's persuasion theory, this study extracts two specific persuasive approaches, "two-sided messages" and "emotional appeal," to explore consumers' perceptions of them and the effectiveness of these two strategies. At the same time, para-social interaction and perceived value as intermediary factors are also included in the study for further discussion. The study empirically analyzed a sample of 511 questionnaires from participants who had purchased products recommended by vloggers and came to the following conclusions: (1) vloggers can enhance consumers' purchase intention by adopting two-sided messages persuasion when promoting products; (2) vloggers' emotional persuasion can enhance consumers' purchase intention; (3) as an intermediary variable, para-social interaction plays a more obvious role in vloggers' persuasion by appealing to emotions. The audience can have common feelings with vloggers, and they are more connected with each other, thus increasing their willingness to buy; (4) Perceived value, as an intermediary variable, plays a more obvious role in vloggers' persuasion with the two-sided messages. The two-sided messages can show vloggers' credibility and more abundant information about products, so that consumers have a positive perception of product value, and the direct persuasion effect of the two-sided messages is greater. Based on the results of the study, this paper helps vloggers to adopt different persuasive approaches for different types of audiences, choose the proper marketing methods, attract the potential customers, and achieve such purposes as enriching product marketing forms and increasing market share.
PubMed: 36570988
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1080507 -
Stem Cell Reports Aug 2023Misinformation among clinics advertising unproven stem cell interventions (SCIs) is pervasive and has resulted in patient and societal harms. Most bioethics commentaries...
Misinformation among clinics advertising unproven stem cell interventions (SCIs) is pervasive and has resulted in patient and societal harms. Most bioethics commentaries have centered on advancing regulatory approaches to curtail the supply side of the market, but insufficient attention has been paid to considering strategies influencing patient demand. In this article, we offer an ethical justification for the design and deployment of persuasive patient education on unproven SCIs and distinguish it from didactic and manipulative education frames. Persuasive education should aim to correct and inoculate against misinformation about unproven SCIs and instill a sense of caution among patients considering experimental interventions outside of a clinical trial. We outline various communication strategies to effectively correct or inoculate against SCI misinformation. The stem cell community needs to invest in understanding patients' informational sources, attitudes, and beliefs about SCIs to develop and implement evidence-based persuasive education to promote informed decision-making about these therapies.
Topics: Humans; Stem Cells; Communication; Health Education
PubMed: 37557072
DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2023.06.004 -
AMIA ... Annual Symposium Proceedings.... 2019Self-tracking feedback with engaging and persuasive visualizations not only helps convey data but can also affect people's attitudes and behaviors. We investigate...
Self-tracking feedback with engaging and persuasive visualizations not only helps convey data but can also affect people's attitudes and behaviors. We investigate persuasive self-tracking feedback by augmenting data videos (DVs)-novel, engaging storytelling media. We introduce a new class of DVs, called Persuasive Data Videos (PDVs), by incorporating four persuasive elements-primary task, dialogue, system credibility, and social supports-drawn from the Persuasive System Design Model. We describe the iterative design of PDVs and a within-subjects preliminary validation to check their persuasive potential. We then assess PDVs' feasibility using the Persuasive Potential Questionnaire in a between-subjects study comparing a PDV against a conventional DV on Amazon Mechanical Turk (N = 252). Our results indicate the feasibility of using PDVs in providing individuals' self-tracking feedback to convey persuasive health messages, based on which we discuss opportunities for designing persuasive behavioral feedback in an engaging way.
Topics: Feedback; Health Promotion; Humans; Monitoring, Ambulatory; Persuasive Communication; Self-Management; Social Support; Surveys and Questionnaires; Video Recording
PubMed: 32308822
DOI: No ID Found -
Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies Oct 2020The growth of mobile device access and ownership has yielded many opportunities and challenges for raising healthy digital media consumers. As adoption of mobile and...
The growth of mobile device access and ownership has yielded many opportunities and challenges for raising healthy digital media consumers. As adoption of mobile and internet-connected devices has increased among children, concerns for healthy child development have been expressed regarding excessive or problematic use. Although much theoretical and empirical work has been conducted evaluating adolescents' and adults' risks for dependence on various screen media (e.g., Gaming Disorder, Internet Addiction), little theoretical consideration has been expounded regarding the etiology and maintenance of problematic media use earlier in childhood (i.e., under age 12 years). The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework through which to investigate problematic media use in early childhood. Our theory, the Interactional Theory of Childhood Problematic Media Use (IT-CPU) merges developmental and clinical psychology theories, with communication and human-computer interaction perspectives. We outline distal and proximal factors that we hypothesize contribute to the development of problematic media use in childhood, and emphasize maintaining factors that could be targets for intervention. Finally, we provide recommendations for an interdisciplinary research agenda to test our proposed theory and inform experimental trials to prevent and treat childhood problematic media use.
PubMed: 36381426
DOI: 10.1002/hbe2.217 -
Open Mind : Discoveries in Cognitive... 2022Language is not only used to transmit neutral information; we often seek to by arguing in favor of a particular view. Persuasion raises a number of challenges for...
Language is not only used to transmit neutral information; we often seek to by arguing in favor of a particular view. Persuasion raises a number of challenges for classical accounts of belief updating, as information cannot be taken at face value. How should listeners account for a speaker's "hidden agenda" when incorporating new information? Here, we extend recent probabilistic models of recursive social reasoning to allow for persuasive goals and show that our model provides a account for why weakly favorable arguments may backfire, a phenomenon known as the weak evidence effect. Critically, this model predicts a systematic relationship between belief updates and expectations about the information source: weak evidence should only backfire when speakers are expected to act under persuasive goals and prefer the strongest evidence. We introduce a simple experimental paradigm called the to measure the extent to which the weak evidence effect depends on speaker expectations, and show that a pragmatic listener model accounts for the empirical data better than alternative models. Our findings suggest further avenues for rational models of social reasoning to illuminate classical decision-making phenomena.
PubMed: 36439072
DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00061