Testing the effects of certain versus hypothetical language in health risk messages

ABSTRACT

This paper tests how certainty conveyed through language can be harnessed to enhance the effectiveness of health risk messages. We conducted experiments with low-income, adult smokers (n = 317) and middle schoolers (n = 321) on pictorial cigarette warning labels. We manipulated hypotheticality of risk through verb modality: present tense, may, can, and will. For adult smokers, present tense led to greater health risk beliefs, compared to hypothetical, among adult males but not females. For youth, contrary to what might seem intuitive, the hypothetical may verb was more effective than the present tense language in promoting health risk beliefs, which was associated with reduced susceptibility to use cigarettes. We discuss the findings in relation applications of construal level theory to health communication.

KEYWORDS:

• Construal level theory
• hypothetical language
• health risks
• warning labels
• tobacco

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Sherri Jean Katz is an assistant professor at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her research areas are persuasion, health communication, tobacco, and youth.

Sahara Byrne is a Professor in the Dept of Communication at Cornell University. She studies youth and persuasion.

Alan D. Mathios is a Professor in the Policy Analysis and Management Department at Cornell University. His research is focused on the economics of information and labeling.

Rosemary J. Avery is a Professor in the Policy Analysis and Management Department at Cornell University.

Michael C. Dorf (J.D., Harvard University) is the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell University, where his research focuses on constitutional law, including First Amendment limits on commercial speech.

Amelia Greiner Safi is core faculty in the Master of Public Health Program and a senior research associate in the Department of Communication at Cornell. Her mixed methods research addresses communication, health, environment and policy.

Jeff Niederdeppe is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University. His research examines the mechanisms and effects of mass media campaigns, strategic health messages, and news coverage in shaping health behavior, health disparities, and social policy.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) (grant number R01-HD079612). The funders played no role in the study design; collection, analysis and interpretation of data; the writing of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the Food and Drug Administration.