Abstract
There is growing evidence that self-affirmation can reduce defensive processing of threatening health messages among high risk individuals. However, how self-affirmation might influence low risk individuals is less clear. This study examined the effect of self-affirmation on daily versus occasional smokers’ reactions to graphic on-pack warning labels. Results showed a relatively consistent pattern of interaction wherein self-affirmation decreased favorable reactions to the warning labels among occasional smokers, whereas its effect on daily smokers was mostly nonsignificant. Potential explanations of these findings are offered and their practical implications are discussed.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1137-1158 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Communication Research |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 27 2014 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- self-affirmation
- smoking
- warning labels
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Communication
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language