Mindfulness and Implementation Planning: Promoting Self-Reported and Behavioral Forgiveness

The current research examined mindfulness and implementation planning as practices that promote interpersonal forgiveness. A unique contribution of this work includes the investigation of motives and techniques that might promote both self-reported and behavioral forgiveness. Young adults (N = 80; M = 19.2 years) completed a task in which a standardized, interpersonal transgression occurred without the participants' knowledge. Results indicate that individuals who received training in either a mindfulness practice (i.e., mindful breathing) or implementation planning practice (i.e., developing "if-then" plan statements) reported better overall mood following the standardized transgression. Interestingly, mindful breathing appeared to be the most beneficial practice to enhance positive attitudes toward the forgiveness process and promote self-reported and behavioral forgiveness. Findings are consistent with prior research investigating the effectiveness of mindful breathing and implementation planning following an actual interpersonal transgression. Implications as well as future research directions within the context of forgiveness and relationships are discussed.

Does Considering the Consequences of Selective Exposure Help Reduce Selective Exposure Behaviors?

Selective exposure (the tendency to avoid information one disagrees with) is particularly easy to do and leads to problematic outcomes. This study investigated if personally relevant message frames would increase participant engagement and agreement when reading a counterattitudinal message. Participants (N = 180) were randomly assigned into one of three message frames: the idea attack frame asked participants to recall a time their ideas were attacked or summarily dismissed; the unable to defend position frame asked participants to recall a time they were vulnerable due to a lack of knowledge; and an irrelevant-frame control. Participants then read a counterattitudinal message about increasing internet service taxes. Next, participants rated their message agreement, and self-perceived engagement level. Although the messages did not influence agreement, the unable to defend position and the idea attack frames influenced participants to be more engaged with the message. This suggests that people are motivated to engage more with a counterattitudinal message when they are reminded of a time in which they were vulnerable due to a lack of knowledge or when others were summarily dismissive of their own ideas. Overall, both frames showed some promise and should be explored further.

Specialty coffee consumption intervention illustrates the utility of behavior feedback messages

Despite having similar amounts of caffeine, "specialty" coffee drinks (SCDs; e.g., lattes and frappes) contain nearly 10 times as many calories and cost nearly double the price compared to more traditional coffee drinks (e.g., brewed and iced coffee). The current study examined the efficacy of generic and personalized behavior feedback messages to reduce participants' intention to consume SCDs, as well as the moderating effects of Need for Cognition (NC; i.e., one's willingness and tendency to engage in critical thinking; Cacioppo & Petty, 1989) on this intervention. Furthermore, participants' immediacy of likelihood-to-reduce their SCD consumption was also analyzed. Participants completed an online survey that included one of four behavior feedback messages (personalized feedback, generic feedback with a memory prompt, generic feedback without a memory prompt, and no message), pre- and post-intervention measures of SCD consumption and likelihood to reduce their consumption, and the NC Scale (Cacioppo, Petty, & Fao, 1984). Although each of the three behavior feedback messages were successful at reducing SCD consumption intention compared to the no message control, no moderating effect of NC was established. Furthermore, NC predicted both post-intervention specialty coffee consumption intention and likelihood of reducing consumption "in the next few days," but in a surprising manner. Although further investigation into the application of behavior feedback and the moderating effects of NC are necessary, these data suggest that behavior feedback, whether generic or personalized, may be a useful dietary intervention for high-cost, high-calorie coffee consumption.

Educating outdoor workers using tailored and financial messages to encourage safe-sun behaviors

Excessive and unsafe sun exposure represents a concerning hazard to the health of individuals. Of particular interest are those who are most susceptible to sun exposure, such as outdoor workers. The current study used a 3 × 2 between-subjects design to investigate the effectiveness of messages that varied the extent of personalization (i.e. generic message; occupation targeted message; individual tailored message) and the inclusion of content regarding financial consequences of skin cancer. Participants (N = 304) were recruited from the USA through Amazon's Mechanical Turk and randomly assigned to view a generic message, occupation targeted message, or individual tailored message. Additionally, participants were randomly assigned to view messages in which financial information was either present or not. Participants responded to questions assessing pre- and post-test sun protection behaviors. Individual tailored messaging was as effective as occupation targeted messaging, with both being more effective than generic messaging. This finding indicates that some degree of personalization is necessary when promoting safe-sun practices to outdoor workers, but that tailoring to individuals may not always be necessary. Inclusion of financial content in messaging resulted in greater intentions to practice sun protection behaviors. Results provide insight into effective methods for promoting sun protection.

Reducing Loneliness: The Impact of Mindfulness, Social Cognitions, and Coping

While many facets of loneliness have been explored, research examining the efficacy of loneliness interventions has been overlooked among young adults. The study of loneliness among young adults has become increasingly important considering the current state of isolation and stay-at-home orders issued to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Preliminary reports suggest an increase in loneliness as a result of the current health pandemic, especially among young adults, who have reported feeling lonelier than any other age group. Such findings warrant the study of ways to help reduce loneliness among young adults. The current study examined the efficacy of strategies that might be used to help young adults manage feelings of loneliness. Two hundred and seventy-eight young adults completed the study. Participants read one of four messages: mindfulness, social cognitions, coping behaviors, or a control. Participants in the mindfulness condition felt better equipped to manage future instances of loneliness and held better attitudes toward this intervention. The current research helps to advance understanding of effective ways of helping young adults cope with loneliness.

Loneliness Among College Students: The Influence of Targeted Messages on Befriending

The objective of the current research was to examine the influence of targeted messages in increasing helping behaviors towards lonely individuals. Previous research on loneliness interventions typically focuses on the lonely individual and working to reduce feelings of loneliness. The current study expands on this research by targeting individuals around lonely others to notice and consider helping those who might be lonely. Five targeted messages, based on Latané and Darley's (1970) bystander intervention model, were utilized. These messages included a "notice" condition (increasing awareness of lonely others), an "assume responsibility" condition (awareness and responsibility towards helping lonely others), a "decide" condition (awareness, responsibility, and steps to reach out to lonely others), and two control conditions. Participants in the "decide" condition were significantly more likely to report feeling prepared to help lonely others in the future. Those in the "assume responsibility" and "decide" conditions also reported more awareness of lonely individuals during a one-week follow-up. Overall, findings indicate that it might be advantageous to approach reducing loneliness from the perspective of those around lonely individuals. Future research and implications of these findings are discussed.

Scarcity Claims Elicit Extreme Responding to Persuasive Messages: Role of Cognitive Elaboration

Opposing accounts of the persuasiveness of messages accompanied by scarcity information (rarity) were compared: heuristic-reduced thinking versus elaborative-increased thinking. In two experiments, 275 college students identified themselves as having a novel attribute (picture-mindedness [PM]/situationmindedness or situation-mindedness [SM]) that was designated as rare or common and that persuasive messages portrayed as either positive or negative. The results replicated Ditto and Jemmott—rarity led to more extreme attitudes toward the focal attribute. However, thought-listings and path analyses favored elaborative rather than heuristic processing. In further demonstration that extreme attitudinal responding to scarcity information was mediated by thoughtful processing, Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 under low, but not high, cognitive load.

Why Counterattitudinal Messages Are as Memorable as Proattitudinal Messages: The Importance of Active Defense Against Attack

Three experiments were designed to clarify the mechanisms underlying Eagly, Chen, Chaiken, and Shaw-Barnes’s (1999) meta-analytic demonstration that attitudinally congenial information has typically not been more memorable than uncongenial information. Participants remembered congenial and uncongenial messages equally well, despite their disapproval of the uncongenial information. This null congeniality effect was obtained regardless of whether (a) messages pertained to abortion or gays in the military or presented information on both sides or only one side of the issue; (b) recognition or recall measures were administered soon after the message or 2 weeks later; and (c) participants were or were not activists on the issue, had stronger or weaker attitudes, had more prior knowledge of counterattitudinal (vs. proattitudinal) arguments, or did or did not have their attention constrained to the message. Process findings suggested that participants’ thoughtful counterarguing of the uncongenial messages enhanced their memory for them.

Effects of Transmitter Tuning on Attitude Change Persistence: An Examination of Alternative Explanations

Lassiter, Pezzo, and Apple (this issue) replicated the effect of transmitter tuning on attitude change persistence (Boninger, Brock, Cook, Gruder, & Romer, 1990) and included an additional condition as the basis for an alternative explanation. Although their independent replication is an important contribution that provides significant empirical corroboration, a superficial rendering of the interrupted-task literature (Zeigarnik, 192711938) and ambiguity in the operationalization of the additional condition appear to weaken their proposed interruption-perseveration explanation. We also summarize ancillary data from our earlier work (Boninger et at., 1990) that shed further doubt on this alternative explanation.

Influencing College Student Drinking Intentions With Social Norms and Self-Schema Matched Messages: Differences Between Low and High Self-Monitors

College students were exposed to either a self-schema matched message (emphasizing how binge drinking is inconsistent with personal values) or a social norms message (highlighting the true normative drinking behavior of peers). As predicted, low self-monitors intended to drink significantly less alcohol if they received the self-schema matched message versus the social norms message, and high self-monitors intended to drink less if they received the social norms message versus a self-schema message. While previous research supports both techniques for marketing responsible college student drinking, the current results suggest that each method may be especially effective for certain audiences.

Moving beyond "sticks and stones": chronic psychological trauma predicts posttraumatic stress symptoms

To date, trauma research has focused on the impact of physical trauma on posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms. Sometimes psychological trauma is measured with instances of physical trauma; however, less is known about solely psychological trauma. The current study addresses this by examining psychological trauma and PTS symptoms using the chronic relational trauma (CRT) model. The CRT model examines physical and possible concurrent psychological childhood, peer, and intimate partner trauma; however, psychological trauma alone has yet to be tested. A total of 232 female undergraduates (M age = 18.32, SD = 1.60) completed a series of questionnaires. Structural equation modeling indicated that childhood, peer, and intimate partner psychological trauma predict current PTS symptoms. Contributions of these findings are discussed.

Motivating adult children to provide support to a family caregiver

This study compared altruistically and egoistically framed messages for encouraging adult children to support a parent providing care for an elderly relative. Undergraduate students imagined their mother filling a caregiving role while reading a message about family caregiving and the physical and psychological stresses it involves. The message encouraged participants to support the caregiver either for altruistic (other-oriented) or egoistic (self-oriented) reasons. Thereafter, participants completed self-assessment surveys of attachment style and willingness to provide support. Securely attached (less self-oriented) participants were not differentially influenced by the two messages. However, insecurely attached (more self-oriented) participants were more willing to help if they received the egoistic message than if they received the altruistic message. Thus, knowledge of a family member's attachment style can be useful for selecting an appropriate method for encouraging caregiver support. Whereas the type of message used does not matter for securely attached individuals, an egoistically framed message may be more influential than an altruistically framed message among insecurely attached individuals. It is important that clinicians work with families to establish appropriate levels of individual commitment to caregiving responsibilities or supportive behaviours such that involvement is beneficial to the health of the caregiver, the care recipient and supporters.

Marketing responsible drinking behavior: comparing the effectiveness of responsible drinking messages tailored to three possible "personality" conceptualizations

We investigated whether a thoroughly personalized message (tailored to a person's "Big Five" personality traits) or a message matched to an alternate form of self-schema (ideal self-schema) would be more influential than a self-schema matched message (that has been found to be effective) at marketing responsible drinking. We expected the more thoroughly personalized Big Five matched message to be more effective than the self-schema matched message. However, neither the Big Five message nor the ideal self-schema message was more effective than the actual self-schema message. Therefore, research examining self-schema matching should be pursued rather than more complex Big Five matching.

Increasing the effectiveness of messages promoting responsible undergraduate drinking: tailoring to personality and matching to context

This study addressed the serious problem of college student binge drinking by identifying factors that improve the effectiveness of messages encouraging responsible drinking presented through a website simulation. We tested schema matching (i.e., whether the message matches the person's self-schema type or not) and two types of context matching (i.e., whether the message matches the topic or values of the message context) to determine their relative influence on the effectiveness of the message. We expected that messages matched to any of these factors would be more effective than messages not matched. Schema matching reduced intentions to drink while staying in/home, but topic matching reduced intentions to drink when going out, suggesting that different factors are important for messages targeting drinking behavior in different locations. Significant interactions between topic matching and value matching on message evaluation variables indicated that the message should not match the message context too closely. That is, there appears to be a matching threshold: Increasing the number of factors the message matches does not increase message effectiveness, possibly because it makes the message too redundant with the surrounding content.

Assessing college students' attitudes toward responsible drinking messages to identify promising binge drinking intervention strategies

Health communication appeals were utilized through a Web site simulation to evaluate the potential effectiveness of 3 intervention approaches to promote responsible drinking among college students. Within the Web site simulation, participants were exposed to a persuasive message designed to represent either the generalized social norms advertising approach (based on others' behavior), the personalized behavioral feedback approach (tailored to the individual's behavior), or the schema-based approach (tailored to the individual's self-schema, or personality). A control group was exposed to a message that was designed to be neutral (it was designed to discourage heavy drinking, but it did not represent any of the previously mentioned approaches). It was hypothesized that the more personalized the message was to the individual, the more favorable college students' attitudes would be toward the responsible drinking message. Participants receiving the more personalized messages did report more favorable attitudes toward the responsible drinking message.

Self-objectification and compliment type: Effects on negative mood

The effects of trait self-objectification and compliment type (Neutral/Character/Appearance) on women's negative mood was examined. One hundred and eighty-five undergraduate women participated in mock appearance evaluations and interviews before completing questionnaires. As in previous research, women high on trait self-objectification displayed substantially greater body shame and appearance anxiety than women low on trait self-objectification. Women high on trait self-objectification who received character or appearance compliments expressed less negative mood than those receiving neutral compliments. A supplementary study (N=53) suggested that the effect of positive compliments may be due, in part, to the fact that the self-esteem of high trait self-objectified participants was largely contingent on others' approval. Offering highly trait self-objectified women positive statements concerning either their characters or their appearance temporarily assuages negative mood.

Increasing Family Members' Appreciation of Family Caregiving Stress

Participants read a message discussing the duties of a typical family caregiver (for example, a woman taking care of her elderly mother) and the associated psychological, physical, social, and financial stresses. The message was accompanied by an appeal that was either a control or was altruistic (other-oriented: focusing on the mother/caregiver's well-being) or egoistic (self-oriented: focusing on the child of the caregiver's needs and feelings). Participants who received an altruistic appeal were more appreciative of caregiving stresses than were those given an egoistic or a control appeal. Increasing family members' awareness of the stress involved in family caregiving is a first step in encouraging them to personally intervene on behalf of the caregiver.

Increasing selective exposure to health messages by targeting person versus behavior schemas

Schema correspondence theory (Brannon and Brock, 1994) was applied to the topic of selective exposure to health information. The following question was asked: When do people prefer to expose themselves to health-relevant information tailored to match their own needs and values (i.e., recipient self-schema matching) versus the values and goals that the healthy behavior brings to mind (i.e., behavior schema matching)? In general, recipient self-schema matched messages tended to be preferred over behavior schema matched messages. However, this tendency was attenuated to the extent that the behavior had a very well defined (prototypical) schema.

Encouraging responsible drinking among underage drinkers

Public Service Announcements tailored to specific college drinking rituals (Treise, Wolburg and Otnes 1999) were tested on 133 underage undergraduate drinkers. More significant reductions in drinking intentions were found when using appeals focusing on drinking rituals pertaining to Maturity/Order (older students drink moderately: "Don't drink like a freshman.") than to Transformation (desired personality and mood changes), Community (social bonding and camaraderie), or a no-message Control. Gender did not moderate this effect. Underage drinkers may drink, in part, to feel more "grown up." Emphasizing that more senior students actually drink responsibly may diminish this belief and result in reduced alcohol consumption among underage students.

Nursing expertise and information structure influence medical decision making

This study examined the influence of nursing expertise and information structure on certainty of diagnostic decision making. Two hundred and sixteen nurse (experts), student nurse (novices), and non-nurse (naive) participants read patient scenarios either high in information structure (consistent diagnostic information) or low in information structure (inconsistent diagnostic information) and rated their certainty about what the potential diagnosis might be. Results indicated that participants with pre-existing cognitive schemata for processing patient information (experts and novices) were more certain about decision making with structured information than they were about unstructured information, but structure of information did not influence certainty ratings of naive participants.

The representativeness heuristic: influence on nurses' decision making

Nurses and student nurses read case descriptions and generated diagnoses for patients who differed on situational and behaviorial chactacteristics. Consistent with a representativeness heuristic, participants were less likely to attribute symptoms to physical illness when scenarios included extra-symptom patient characteristics. Results suggest that medical personnel implement prototypical, heuristic-based diagnostic procedures.

Schema-derived persuasion and perception of AIDS risk

Schema correspondence theory (Brannon & Brock, 1994) states that messages that reflect recipients' self-schemas will be more persuasive than non-matching messages. Two experiments demonstrated that matching public health messages to the self-schematic preferences of message recipients can increase the impact of AIDS prevention messages. Evidence from both experiments suggested that the matching effect was due to increased message processing of self-schema matching messages. In Study 1, the matching effect was greater for low need-for-cognition participants (indicating increased thinking in response to matching). In Study 2, participant listed significantly more thoughts in response to self-schema matching, as opposed to non-matching, messages.

Timeless demonstrations of Parkinson's first law

"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion," Parkinson's law, is an explanation classic that has survived without an artifact-free demonstration at the individual level. To evaluate Parkinson's law, undergraduate subjects expected to judge four sets of photos of faces with reference to a subjective criterion. The experimental subjects, who were told that the fourth set was canceled before they began work on the third set, dallied on the third set; that is, as compared with controls, they prolonged work. The cancellation-dalliance effect was reobtained in two exact replications. It was obtained again in a fourth study, a conceptual replication wherein subjects processed negatively toned phrases against an objective criterion. The generalizability of the effect and explanations for it are discussed.