April 4-6, 2024 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Innovations in Health Communication
Innovations in Health Communication
Abstract: The Effects of We-Referencing Language and Time Orientation in Pride Appeals on COVID-19 Collective Efficacy, Information Seeking, and Avoidance
The audiences for public threat appeals (e.g., how to avoid COVID-19) likely differ in how personally affected they perceived themselves to be. Yet, these threats still demand that most people act if we are to see improvements in communal well-being. Someone with a strong immune system may not perceive a need to avoid catching COVID-19, even if they help host the virus as it mutates or they spread it to high-risk others. Messaging strategies for addressing communal threats need to motivate the public to be aware of how their actions and knowledge levels affect others, even if it creates an inconvenience to them in the short-term.
How could we design messages that achieve that goal? Research shows that talking about the future can motivate individuals to take on long-term planning (Ballard & Seibold, 2003). Another approach is to design messages that encourage positive emotions, which promote social bonding (Fredrickson, 2013); specifically, pride in one’s collective group, which motivates resilience (Williams & DeSteno, 2008) by using we-referencing language (Zhu & Smith, 2021).
To test these possibilities, we conducted an experiment (N = 660) of adults in a mid-Atlantic town from December 2020 through January 2021. Participants were randomly assigned to one of five conditions: 2 (Pronoun reference: we or you) x 2 (timeframe: past or future) + 1 (control, no health message). They then responded to items assessing emotions, empathy, collective efficacy for coping with COVID-19, and COVID-19 information seeking and avoidance.
Messages focusing on the self used “you” pronouns to talk about the past (“Think about the past year as you have been dealing with COVID-19 and all the changes in your life caused by it. You should be proud of all you have done to stay healthy and safe. Since March, you have worked hard to educate yourself about the risks of COVID-19 and to stay informed about what is happening in your community.”) or the future (“Imagine the future, when COVID-19 is no longer a big threat to you. Imagine reflecting back on all you dealt with during the pandemic and the changes in your life caused by it. You will be proud of all you have done to stay healthy and safe.”) The communal-focused conditions used “we” instead of “you” and discussed helping neighbors.
A path analysis revealed that we-referencing language resulted in more guilt and less empathy as well as less positive emotion. The self-focused (you) condition increased positive emotions (pride, hope). The we-referencing language did not increase information seeking but it lowered intentions to avoid information. The time-focus did not have direct effects on outcomes.
Positive and empathic emotions resulted in stronger intentions to seek information, weaker intentions to avoid such information, and stronger collective efficacy. Post-message guilt was associated with less collective efficacy and more information avoidance. Guilt did not, though, influence information seeking. Other negative emotions (frustrated, anxious) were associated with more information seeking and less avoidance but did not influence collective efficacy. These findings have implications for theory and promoting community-oriented action.
How could we design messages that achieve that goal? Research shows that talking about the future can motivate individuals to take on long-term planning (Ballard & Seibold, 2003). Another approach is to design messages that encourage positive emotions, which promote social bonding (Fredrickson, 2013); specifically, pride in one’s collective group, which motivates resilience (Williams & DeSteno, 2008) by using we-referencing language (Zhu & Smith, 2021).
To test these possibilities, we conducted an experiment (N = 660) of adults in a mid-Atlantic town from December 2020 through January 2021. Participants were randomly assigned to one of five conditions: 2 (Pronoun reference: we or you) x 2 (timeframe: past or future) + 1 (control, no health message). They then responded to items assessing emotions, empathy, collective efficacy for coping with COVID-19, and COVID-19 information seeking and avoidance.
Messages focusing on the self used “you” pronouns to talk about the past (“Think about the past year as you have been dealing with COVID-19 and all the changes in your life caused by it. You should be proud of all you have done to stay healthy and safe. Since March, you have worked hard to educate yourself about the risks of COVID-19 and to stay informed about what is happening in your community.”) or the future (“Imagine the future, when COVID-19 is no longer a big threat to you. Imagine reflecting back on all you dealt with during the pandemic and the changes in your life caused by it. You will be proud of all you have done to stay healthy and safe.”) The communal-focused conditions used “we” instead of “you” and discussed helping neighbors.
A path analysis revealed that we-referencing language resulted in more guilt and less empathy as well as less positive emotion. The self-focused (you) condition increased positive emotions (pride, hope). The we-referencing language did not increase information seeking but it lowered intentions to avoid information. The time-focus did not have direct effects on outcomes.
Positive and empathic emotions resulted in stronger intentions to seek information, weaker intentions to avoid such information, and stronger collective efficacy. Post-message guilt was associated with less collective efficacy and more information avoidance. Guilt did not, though, influence information seeking. Other negative emotions (frustrated, anxious) were associated with more information seeking and less avoidance but did not influence collective efficacy. These findings have implications for theory and promoting community-oriented action.