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Effects of Construal Framing on Responses to Ambiguous Health Information

Simonovic, Nicolle
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1594927308547261

Abstract Details

2020, MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences.
Health information is ambiguous when it is lacking in reliability, credibility, or is in some way inadequate. Ambiguous health information might lead to maladaptive responses, such as avoiding beneficial health procedures, defensive processing, and pessimistic appraisal. According to Construal Level Theory, a person’s construal-level (i.e., mindset) can influence how people represent objects and events in their minds. A low-level construal refers to a detail-oriented mindset, whereas a high-level construal refers to a big-picture mindset. Different construal-levels might promote adaptive responses to ambiguous health information. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of ambiguous health information about alcohol consumption on cognitions that have been shown to predict health behavior and whether construal moderated these effects. Participants in this 2 (Construal Level: High, Low) x 2 (Health Communication: Ambiguous, Unambiguous) fully crossed factorial design were randomly assigned to engage in a task that elicited a low-level construal or a high-level construal. Next, participants were randomly assigned to read an ambiguous or unambiguous health communication about the health effects of alcohol consumption. Inconsistent with hypotheses that ambiguous health information would promote maladaptive outcomes across cognitions predictive of health behavior, there were no significant main effects on health cognitions, message responses, or intentions to reduce alcohol consumption. Two effects were found regarding the use of construal. Construal moderated only one response to ambiguous health information: inconsistent with hypotheses, among participants who received a high-level construal, those who read an ambiguous health communication had somewhat lower intentions to reduce alcohol consumption compared with those who read an unambiguous health communication. Further, the results of one exploratory analysis demonstrated that high-level construal increased beliefs that heart disease is preventable. Findings suggest that using construal might be a useful strategy for facilitating health behavior change. However, more research is needed to understand how and when using construal manipulations are effective in different health contexts, and especially how to simplify construal manipulations to improve utility. Another area of future research is to evaluate the moderating roles of personality and affect in the relationship between construal and ambiguous health information.
Jennifer Taber (Advisor)
John Updegraff (Committee Member)
Manfred van Dulmen (Committee Member)
William Lechner (Committee Member)
88 p.
Psychology
ambiguity; health information; construal level theory

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Simonovic, N. (2020). Effects of Construal Framing on Responses to Ambiguous Health Information [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1594927308547261

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Simonovic, Nicolle. Effects of Construal Framing on Responses to Ambiguous Health Information. 2020. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1594927308547261.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Simonovic, Nicolle. "Effects of Construal Framing on Responses to Ambiguous Health Information." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1594927308547261

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1594927308547261
221
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This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.