Transcript Specific plans to reduce consumption

Self-affirmation, Implementation
Intentions, and Behavior Change
William Klein
National Cancer Institute
Peter Harris
University of Sussex
Rebecca Ferrer
National Cancer Institute
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
February 14, 2014
Self-Affirmation and
Threatening Health Messages
• Seminal studies by Sherman et al. (2000)
• Other threatening health information
• Cigarette warning labels (Harris et al., 2007)
• Personalized risk feedback (Klein et al., 2010)
• Other populations
• Sunbathers (Jessop et al., 2009)
• Low SES (Armitage et al., 2009)
Explanatory Mechanisms
Physiological
Cognitive
Affective
Motivational
Question:
Mechanisms are important, but does selfaffirmation have any behavioral effects?
“Small behavioral wins”
(Cohen & Sherman, 2014)
Intentions, intentions, intentions
 Smoking cessation leaflets (Armitage et al., 2008)
 Click link to online screening test (van
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Koningsbruggen & Das, 2009)
Condoms/leaflets (Sherman et al., 2000)
 Leaflets re: fruits/veggies (Napper et al., in press)
 Taking sunscreen (Jessop et al., 2009)
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More Sustained Behavior Change
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Fruit and vegetable @ 1 week (Epton & Harris, 2008)
Alcohol use @ 1-2 mos. (Armitage et al., 2011)
Exercise @ 1 week (Cooke, Harris, & Wright, in press)
BMI/weight/waist size @ 3 mo. (Logel & Cohen, 2012)
Sun protection @ 2 weeks (Schuez, Schuez, & Eid, 2013)
More Sustained Behavior Change
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In conjunction with positive affect intervention vs.
usual treatment control (at 12 mo. follow-up)
 Exercise in coronary patients (Peterson et al., 2012)
 Medication adherence in hypertensive African
Americans (Ogedegbe et al., 2012)
But examples of no change (e.g., Reed & Aspinwall, 1998)
Role of Plans and
Implementation Intentions
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Implementation intentions (i.e., if then-plans)
more likely translate intentions into action
(Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006)
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Self-affirmation increases self-efficacy and
response efficacy, so…
might it increase plan-making?
 might self-affirmation effects be enhanced by
implementation intention opportunities?
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Some Hints from Existing Studies
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Armitage et al. (2011): one condition suggested
that participants think about a value when
desiring a drink
Epton and Harris (2008): message had easy steps
to incorporate foods into diet (“add extra
vegetables to pizza”)
Jessop et al. (2013): detrimental effects of
implementation intentions combined with selfaffirmation
Study 1 (Ferrer et al., 2012)
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265 female drinkers
Self-affirmed or not
Article linking alcohol and breast cancer
Usual measures – processing, attitudes, risk
perceptions, etc.
Open-ended response to:
“If you have any interest in altering your alcohol consumption
in the next 7 days, how will you go about it? Please list any
steps that you think you will take to reduce your alcohol
consumption.”
- 80% provided one or more steps
- Coded for degree of specificity and feasibility
Specific plans to reduce consumption
Ferrer et al., 2012, Social Psychological and Personality Science
Study 2
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1116 females, national TESS sample, Mage = 46
Written emotion induction
Self-affirmed or not
Alcohol and breast cancer article
Open-ended response to:
“If you have any interest in altering your alcohol consumption
in the next 7 days, how will you go about it? Please list any
steps that you think you will take to reduce your alcohol
consumption.”
Ferrer et al., in preparation
Specific plans to reduce consumption
Ferrer et al., in preparation
Specific plans to reduce consumption
Study 3 (Harris et al., in press)
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N = 332 members of U. Sheffield community
(72% female, Mage = 22.3)
Self-affirmed or not
Article about benefits of fruits and vegetables
Implementation intentions or not (thought
bubble format)
Follow-up consumption at 7 days and 3 months
Fruit and veggie consumption
Harris et al., in press, Health Psychology
Fruit and veggie consumption
Harris et al., in press, Health Psychology
Fruit and veggie consumption
Harris et al., in press, Health Psychology
Conclusions
• Self-affirmation may promote not only attitude
change but also plans to address threat
• Making available opportunities to address threat
might enhance the effect of self-affirmation
• Unclear how implementation intentions are
related to behavior – does self-affirmation
influence this association?
Future Research
• Under what conditions do implementation
intentions undermine self-affirmation? (Jessop et
al., 2013)
• Are plans and implementation intentions
recursive?
• Does self-affirmation affect the way in which
plans and implementation intentions are
expressed?
Thank You!
Collaborators
Margo Barker
Hannah Bergman
Irina Brearley
Rod Bond
David Creswell
Kaitlin Graff
Amber Koblitz
John Levine
Paschal Sheeran
Dikla Shmueli
Funding
National Cancer Institute
National Science Foundation