Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Priming optimism: The automaticity of health risk perceptions

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

Communication initiatives frequently are used to inform people about various risks in an attempt to improve their decision making and behavior. People, however, do not readily accept personal risk information, often underestimating their susceptibility to and the severity of the risks. This project is designed to learn more about perceptions of health risks with the ultimate goal of designing more effective messages for health promotion and disease prevention. The research involves three experiments to learn whether people automatically underestimate their health risks, that is, without awareness, intention, or effort. The first experiment explores whether participants subconsciously primed with self-identity words (e.g., ?I,? ?me?) respond faster than participants primed with third-person (e.g., ?he,? ?herself?) or neutral (e.g., ?it,? ?itself?) words. The second experiment explores whether participants primed with self-identity words will exhibit faster response times when they are mentally taxed (i.e., memorizing an eight-digit number) compared to when they are not (i.e., memorizing a two-digit number). The third experiment will explore whether highly reactant participants (i.e., those who react negatively to restrictions on personal choice) when primed with self-identity words will exhibit faster response times in response to health conditions that are perceived to be highly controllable (i.e., conditions that are preventable if personal action is taken). In all three experiments, the research team will also examine several individual difference variables (e.g., self efficacy, dispositional optimism) and see if characteristics of the health risk (e.g., prevalence) influence risk perceptions.