The role of conditional factors in testimonial health messaging: re-examining the influence of self vs. relational goals

ABSTRACT

Self and relational goals influence health behaviors. This investigation examined how these distinct motivations affect response to persuasive anti-smoking testimonials. While self vs. relational message cues failed to influence message response, findings indicated that dispositional levels of interdependence predicted more favorable message judgments when exposed to loss-framed, but not gain-framed messages. Furthermore, results showed that interdependence was a strong, positive predictor of character identification, an antecedent to both favorable message judgments and anti-smoking attitudes. Subsequent mediation analyses indicated that interdependence indirectly predicted favorable message judgments and anti-smoking attitudes through character identification. Although the relationship was substantially weaker, the findings also revealed an unexpected significant association between independent self-construal and character identification. Overall, the findings indicate that individual differences in self vs. relational goals contribute to the efficacy of persuasive appeals.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.