Persuasive health technology
Lisette van Gemert-Pijnen, Saskia M. Kelders, Hanneke Kip, Robbert Sanderman in eHealth Research, Theory and Development, 2018
Persuasive technology involves communication; people interact with technology. Information is mediated through a technology and its users. Persuasive communication intends to describe, explain and predict the factors that contribute to changing attitudes and behaviours (Ajzen, 1992; Dillard & Pfau, 2002; Perloff, 1993). For example, persuasive communication describes and explains the four layers of communication that influence the understanding of information (Schulz von Thun, 1981). These are (1) the factual layers, which refers to facts, data; (2) the expressive layer, referring to the relationship between sender and receiver; (3) the self-revealing layer, expressing something about the sender’s emotions, values and so on; and (4) the appellation layer, referring to the desire, advice, instructions and effects.
Communication theory and health promotion
Robin Bunton, Gordon Macdonald in Health Promotion, 2003
Communication at its very simplest involves a communicator or communication event, a message, and a recipient. This communication act is the basic building block for all social relationships. It is the means by which all information and knowledge are transmitted. The communicator uses a series of signs or symbols which he or she encodes in a message. The recipient, once his or her attention is aroused, decodes the message and, if motivated, acts on the information received. In essence the communication event is to do with the conveyance of meaning. The effectiveness of any given message influences the degree to which it is decoded and acted upon. Communication used in this sense is as much to do with persuasion as it is to do with informing: it is not therefore to be confused with communication in an educational sense (see Chapter 5). It is more akin to training (as in education and training) since it attempts to develop certain attitudes and forms of behaviour. A great deal of research has gone into the development of persuasive communication and a useful bibliography lists over 25,000 studies (Lipstein and McGuire 1978).
Social processes
Dominic Upton in Introducing Psychology for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals, 2013
Persuasive communication was first systematically examined after the Second World War by exploring Hitler’s (mis)use of communication and how the Cold War developed and was perceived within the USA (Hovland et al., 1953; McGuire, 1986). Hovland and colleagues (1953) found that in order for effective persuasive communication, resulting in attitude change, four distinct variables are important in the act of persuasion; attention, comprehension, acceptance and retention. Based on their research concerning the communicator, the communication and the audience, the authors developed a model concerning effective persuasive communication (see Table 4.3).
Rules of engagement in mobile health: what does mobile health bring to research and theory?
Published in Contemporary Nurse, 2018
Cigdem Sahin
mHealth provides significant opportunities to design user-centered, engaging applications and requires researchers to combine a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques when developing these applications. Therefore, it is necessary to create interdisciplinary research teams including skillful researchers with multitasking abilities and different methodological competencies. The management of these advanced research teams also requires superior leadership and organizational capabilities. Building an effective mHealth design team and adequate integration of users into the design process are important considerations for mHealth researchers. Another important note for the researchers is the use of communication and persuasion theories in designing and evaluating the persuasive content and structure of mHealth applications.
Framing Effects, Social Norm Perception, and Tolerance of Lesbian and Gay Individuals: Experimental Evidence From Slovakia
Published in Journal of Homosexuality, 2023
Andrej Findor, Matej Hruška, John A. Gould, Roman Hlatky, Zuzana Tomková, Miroslav Sirota
These results also have substantive implications for normative interventions and advocacy campaigns. If the goal of persuasive communication is to increase the recognition and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community (or any other stigmatized category of people), telling stories solely about their problems, e.g., the rejection they struggle with, may be counterproductive. In contrast, telling stories about how their problems were solved, e.g., how they became (however painfully) accepted, might improve the persuasive power of normative appeals. This evidence lends further support for theories emphasizing the persuasive power of social norm perceptions (Prentice, 2012; Tankard & Paluck, 2016). From a practical point of view, our findings offer insight on effective communication for campaigns designed to increase public acceptance of minority groups. Most importantly, they indicate that content and message are the most important factors to consider when crafting normative interventions. Other communicative aspects meant to bolster the persuasiveness of a message—like point of view or group centrism—seem to matter less.
“Then and Now”: Examining the Impact of Temporal Focus on Persuasive Messages across Seniors and Young Adults
Published in Experimental Aging Research, 2021
Faizan Imtiaz, Li-Jun Ji
The findings from this research could have widespread implications on consumer behavior, especially if marketers can harness this knowledge to design past-focused messages that appeal more strongly to older adults. This is important, as research has shown that the fit between an individual’s interests and the messages that they are exposed to is integral for effective persuasion. Indeed, Lee, Keller, and Sternthal (2010) illustrated that people responded more favorably when there was a match between their regulatory focus goals (i.e., promotion, prevention) and the construal level with which the persuasive message was presented. Specifically, individual’s with a promotion focus responded more positively to high-level, abstract messages, while those with a prevention focus preferred low-level, concrete messages. The researchers further reported that the match between one’s goals and the persuasive message is important because it induces greater engagement with the message, in turn leading to enhanced processing fluency and magnified positive reactions. This research, in concert with the findings from the current study, indicates that strengthening the connection between people’s social motives and the persuasive messages that they are exposed to may be an effective means toward improving marketing effectiveness across different age groups.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Inductive Reasoning
- Motivation
- Social Influence
- Belief
- Intention
- Coercion
- Elocution
- Pathos
- Dispositional Attribution
- Attribution