Frans W. Siero

General Antecedents of Personal Norms, Policy Acceptability, and Intentions: The Role of Values, Worldviews, and Environmental Concern

Results of two studies are reported, in which we compare the predictive power of three general behavioral antecedents (i.e., values, worldviews, and environmental concern) in explaining personal norms, behavioral intentions (i.e., environmental activism), and acceptability of energy policies. Values—especially biospheric—appeared to be more powerful in explaining personal norms, intentions, and policy acceptability than were worldviews and environmental concern, although these differences were in some cases not statistically significant.

Bringing up condom use and using condoms with new sexual partners: Intentional or habitual?

Abstract A prospective study of 94 Dutch adults who have casual sexual partners examined whether two important aspects of safe sex, namely bringing up condom use (BCU) and actual condom use (ACU) are intentional or habitual. For each of these aspects, a model based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB: Ajzen, 1991) was pitted against a similar model that was extended with a path from past to later BCU and ACU, respectively. The results suggest that bringing up the issue of condom use was equally predicted by intentions and past BCU. However, among people with casual partners, using condoms - and more importantly not using condoms - was especially predicted by past ACU, suggesting a strong habitual component. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for safe sex education and the use of theories in safe sex promotion campaigns.

Social comparison and satisfaction with one's social life

In this study (N = 96), the role of social comparison in evaluating the quality of ones friendships and social relationships was examined. Participants who were exposed to a comparison target with a very dissatisfying social life evaluated their own social life as better than participants who were exposed to a comparison target with a very satisfying social life. However, this effect was only found among individuals high in the individual characteristic social comparison orientation. It is concluded that only individuals with a dispositional tendency to compare themselves with others will base the evaluation of their social life to an important extent on what they see in others.

Empathic concern: Distinguishing between tenderness and sympathy

The present research proposes that empathic concern, as assessed by six items of the ERQ, consists of two separate emotions, i.e., tenderness and sympathy. To test this assumption, nine studies were conducted among, in total, 1,273 participants. In these studies participants were presented with a hypothetical scenario of someone in need, after which empathic concern was assessed. Factor analyses showed that, indeed, the ERQ items that assess empathic concern can be split up in two factors, that is, one reflecting sympathy and one reflecting tenderness. In addition, in line with previous studies, our research showed that, in response to a need-situation that reflects current needs, individuals scored higher on the ERQ factor reflecting sympathy than on the ERQ factor reflecting tenderness. Findings are discussed in terms of the practical and theoretical implications of distinguishing between sympathy and tenderness.

Application of a modified health belief model to hiv preventive behavioral intentions among gay and bisexual men

Abstract The utility of a modified health belief model (Janz and Becker, 1984) for predicting the intention to use condoms was tested in a study among gay and bisexual men. The model explained a reasonable amount of variance. It was found that younger mens decision to have safe sex was guided by factors other than those that influenced older men. Among younger men, the intention to use a condom was positively related to the relative number of persons with AIDS in their social environment (cues to action) and to the perceived benefits of HIV preventive behavior. Among older men, this behavioral intention was much more determined by their perception of the prevalence of HIV and by their perception of their vulnerability to HIV infection. These findings are important because they may partly explain the recent increase in AIDS-risk behavior among young gay and bisexual men. The discussion focuses on these findings and on the implications for interventions aimed at promoting safe sex.

The impact of information about the prevalence of AIDS-preventive behavior among men and women: the mediating role of social norms

The present study was designed to examine the effect of information about the high prevalence of safe sex on condom use intention, and to investigate the possible mediating role of the perceived social norm of friends, and the perceived social norm of future sexual partners. Participants were provided with gender specific prevalence information, that is with the information that most men have exclusively safe sex, or with the information that most women exclusively engage in safe sexual behavior. The results show some gender differences. Information about the high prevalence of safe sex among men tends to increase womens condom use intention, and this effect seems to be mediated by the perceived social norm of future sexual partners. Mens intention, on the other hand, seems to be unaffected by high prevalence information of safe sex. Implications for research and prevention are discussed.

The effects of contingent feedback on perceived control and performance

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact on students’ performance of three contingent feedback strategies used by teachers. Contigency means that the feedback strongly corresponds with task behaviour that can be controlled by the students. Elementary school students (N=296) received individualized feedback about their performance during a series of five lessons. Within this contingent feedback structure, three strategies were applied which were assumed to enhance the perceived controllability of the task situation: (1) enhancing the perceptibility of the contingency between feedback and task behavior; (2) explicit reference to effort as part of the feedback, and (3) setting of goals. As predicted, the three contingent feedback strategies had a significant positive effect on perceived controllability, and led to better task performance.

Self-Discrepancies and Involvement Moderate the Effects of Positive and Negative Message Framing in Persuasive Communication

One individual difference that is conceptually closely related to the positive and negative framing of outcomes in persuasive communications is the persons self-discrepancy. It was expected that a match between a persons self-discrepancy and framing will lead to more persuasion, under the condition that the information is processed centrally (high involvement). Two experiments were conducted to test this expectation, one through the Internet among obese people and one in the laboratory among students. Both experiments showed that only among those with high involvement—assessed as an individual difference—participants with an ideal-discrepancy were persuaded the most by the positively framed information, whereas participants with an ought-discrepancy were persuaded the most by the negatively framed information.

The Self-Activation Effect of Advertisements: Ads Can Affect Whether and How Consumers Think about the Self

Comparing consumption with nonconsumption situations, we propose and test the self-activation effect of advertisements, which holds that attractiveness-relevant products in advertisements can increase consumer self-activation and lower consumer self-evaluation. Four experiments provide support for this effect by showing that after viewing advertised beauty-enhancing products, but not advertised problem-solving products, thoughts about the self are more salient and self-evaluations are lower, compared with viewing the same products outside of an advertisement context. The findings hold for different products and different manipulations. We also present evidence for the mediating role of appearance self-discrepancy activation as a potential mechanism underlying the effect. The findings suggest that advertisements for attractiveness-relevant products may at times constitute social comparison standards, with which consumers compare themselves.

‘I’m better off now’: The role of temporal comparisons and exposure evaluations in smoking cessation

Two new psychological concepts related to relapse in smoking cessation were tested. ‘Temporal comparisons’ are ex-smokers’ evaluations of their present situation compared to their situation as a smoker. ‘Exposure evaluations’ are evaluations of situations ex-smokers encountered when they used to smoke. In a cohort study among 323 ex-smokers, both concepts significantly predicted relapse after six months. Moreover, the relationship between temporal comparisons and relapse was mediated by exposure evaluations. In addition, this relationship also depended on self-efficacy; particularly when self-efficacy was low, temporal comparisons predicted relapse. These data provide new theoretical and practical perspectives to relapse.