Maria Knight Lapinski

Moving Toward a Theory of Normative Influences: How Perceived Benefits and Similarity Moderate the Impact of Descriptive Norms on Behaviors

ABSTRACT In recent years researchers have focused attention on understanding the role of normative factors in influencing behaviors. Although there is some evidence to support the idea that restructuring normative beliefs can result in behavior change, the norms literature is largely silent about how or why this influence occurs. The theory of normative social behavior describes the moderators of the descriptive norm-behavior relationship. Through a 2 (descriptive norms: high or low)×2 (perceived benefits: high or low)×2 (similarity: high or low) between-subjects experiment(N = 174), we tested whether these cognitive mechanisms moderated the norms-behavior link. Results indicated that descriptive norms do not exert a direct influence on behavior. Rather, perceived benefits moderated the relationship between descriptive norms and behavioral intention and perceived similarity moderated the relation between descriptive norms and self-efficacy.

Assessing Media Influences on Middle School–Aged Children's Perceptions of Women in Science Using the Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST)

Gender stereotypes in the mass media perpetuate traditional views of women that may influence childrens perceptions of women in science, engineering, and technology. This study used a randomized posttest-only control group design to determine the efficacy of media literacy training on middle school–aged childrens perceptions of scientists. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: discussion, discussion plus viewing of television and film clips that featured images of women, or a control. A total of 304 seventh-grade students were asked to complete the Draw-A-Scientist Test and to write down the source of information for their drawings. Across conditions, boys were more likely than girls to draw male scientists, and girls were more likely than boys to draw female scientists. Boys also were more likely to depict other stereotypes of scientists. Media sources were listed as the primary source of information for the drawings.

Why health communication is important in public health

For the first time, health communication was allocated a chapter in the United States of America (USA)’s Healthy People 2010 objectives, illustrating its growing importance, according to Parrott.1 In these objectives, set by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, health communication is seen to have relevance for virtually every aspect of health and well-being, including disease prevention, health promotion and quality of life. This increase in the prominence of the field, externally, is happening contemporaneously with important developments taking place, internally, one of which is the focus on the study of environmental, social and psychological influences on behaviour and health. Given the global challenges posed by major threats, health communication scholars and practitioners recognize the importance of prevention and, with it, the need to understand human behaviour through the prism of theory. This has given rise to theorizing about the role of risk perceptions,2,3 social norms,4,5 emotions6,7 and uncertainty8 in health behaviours. Communication is at the heart of who we are as human beings. It is our way of exchanging information; it also signifies our symbolic capability. These two functions reflect what James Carey characterized as the transmission and ritual views of communication, respectively.9 Carey recognized that communication serves an instrumental role (e.g. it helps one acquire knowledge) but it also fulfils a ritualistic function, one that reflects humans as members of a social community. Thus, communication can be defined as the symbolic exchange of shared meaning, and all communicative acts have both a transmission and a ritualistic component. Intervention efforts to change behaviours are communicative acts. By focusing mostly on the transmission function of information exchange, such efforts often neglect ritualistic processes that are automatically engaged through communication. In adopting the transmission view of communication, it is reasonable to think carefully about the channels through which intervention messages are disseminated, to whom the message is attributed, how audience members respond and the features of messages that have the greatest impact. These considerations reflect the essential components of the communication process: channel, source, receiver and message, respectively. In the ritual view, however, target audiences are conceptualized as members of social networks who interact with one another, engage in social ceremony and derive meaning from the enactment of habitual behaviours. Three important intervention considerations emerge from this dual view of communication. First is the realization that communication interventions do not fall into a social vacuum. Rather, information is received and processed through individual and social prisms that not only determine what people encounter (through processes of selective exposure), but also the meaning that they derive from the communication (known as selective perception), depending upon factors at both the individual (prior experience, efficacy beliefs, knowledge, etc.) and the macro-social (interpersonal relationships, cultural patterns, social norms) levels. Second, it is reasonable to expect discrepancies between messages disseminated and received. They arise not only due to differential exposure to the intervention but also because of the differences in interpretation in decoding information. A careful study of the correspondence between messages as they are sent and received is thus of great importance to avoid unintended (and worse, counterproductive) effects.10 Third, communication is a dynamic process in which sources and receivers of information continuously interchange their roles. One of the central tenets of health communication interventions – the need to conduct extensive formative evaluation, audience needs assessment and message pretesting – is the direct offshoot of this understanding. Use of these health communication principles in public health presents challenges. First, the evaluation of communication interventions, especially those using national mass media (e.g. radio), does not usually lend itself to randomized trials. Hence, innovative methodological and statistical techniques are required for attributing observed outcomes to intervention efforts. The responsive and transactional nature of health communication interventions also means that modification in intervention content may occur, adding an additional challenge to the evaluation process. Second, the recognition among behavioural scientists – that causes of human behaviour reside at multiple levels that reinforce each other – poses difficulties in designing and testing multilevel interventions. This complexity of health behaviour determinants also requires a multidisciplinary approach for effectively promoting change, which further means that interventions need to incorporate expertise from a variety of professional backgrounds. Finally, because of the rapidly changing communication channels, health communication interventions need to make extra efforts to meet their audiences at their level of technology use. Health communication has much to celebrate and contribute. The field is gaining recognition in part because of its emphasis on combining theory and practice in understanding communication processes and changing human behaviour. This approach is pertinent at a time when many of the threats to global public health (through diseases and environmental calamities) are rooted in human behaviour. By bringing together researchers and practitioners from diverse disciplines and adopting multilevel theoretical approaches, health communicators have a unique opportunity to provide meaningful input in improving and saving lives. We are optimistic. [Editor’s note: Read more about health communication in the upcoming special theme issue of the Bulletin in August 2009.] ■

A Theoretically Based Evaluation of HIV / AIDS Prevention Campaigns Along the Trans-Africa Highway in Kenya

Print HIV/AIDS prevention campaign materials (e.g., posters, pamphlets, stickers) from 10 public health organizations in Kenya were evaluated according to the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM), a health behavior change theory based on the fear appeal literature, at various sites along the Trans-Africa Highway in Kenya. Three groups each of commercial sex workers (CSWs), truck drivers (TDs) and their assistants (ASSTs), and young men (YM) who live and work at the truck stops participated in focus group discussions where reactions to the campaign materials were gathered according to this theoretical base. Reactions to campaign materials varied substantially, according to the poster or pamphlet viewed. Overall, most participants wanted more detailed information about (a) the proper way to use condoms, (b) ideas for how to negotiate condom use with reluctant partners, and (c) accurate information on symptoms of AIDS and what to do once one contracted HIV. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the campaign materials are reported.

The Role of Group Orientation and Descriptive Norms on Water Conservation Attitudes and Behaviors

Social norms have been shown to impact behaviors, but with mixed results. The theory of normative social behavior delineates factors that moderate the relationship between descriptive norms and behaviors, and it addresses the attributes of behaviors that make them susceptible to normative influence. This study tests whether group orientation moderates the impact of descriptive norms on water conservation attitudes and behavioral intentions. Findings indicate a consistent pattern of interactions for descriptive norms and group orientation on both attitudes and behavioral intent. Implications for normative theory and campaign design are addressed.

Segmentation of US consumers based on food safety attitudes

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper is to segment US consumers based on their attitudes towards food safety and to demographically characterize each segment so that effective risk communication strategies and outreach programs may be developed to target vulnerable groups.Design/methodology/approach – Factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were applied to data on consumer food safety attitudes of a probability sample of US adults, collected by telephone questionnaires (n=1,014).Findings – The diversity of consumer attitudes was based on five factors; concern, trust, desire for a high level of regulation, acceptance for the number of people who are ill, hospitalized or die from foodborne illness, and preference for the right to purchase foods that are not guaranteed to be safe. The consumer segments identified on the bases of these factors can be classified as “confident,” “independent”, “trusting”, “cautious”, or “apprehensive” consumers. Socio‐demographic characteristics; education, in...

StarvingforPerfect.com: a theoretically based content analysis of pro-eating disorder Web sites.

Like traditional media, information on the World Wide Web may encourage both healthy and unhealthy behaviors. This study reports on the content analysis of a particular genre of Web site that promotes unhealthy behaviors: pro-eating disorder Web sites. Framed in message design theory, the results of this study indicate that messages on pro-eating disorder Web sites promote response efficacy in continuing disordered behaviors, but messages promoting severity and susceptibility to weight gain and self-efficacy were not common. Given the importance of combining response and self-efficacy messages for maximal effectiveness of messages, the pro-eating disorder sites may have limited effectiveness in effecting behavioral change among site visitors.

The Desirability of Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis on Published Scales

This paper advances an argument in favor of conducting and reporting confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) on existing and previously validated scales and reporting the findings of those analyses in published research. Previous evidence of scale validity does not necessarily ensure validity in subsequent uses. Instead, scale invariance is best viewed as an empirical question. The case is made that CFA facilitates rather than hinders cross-studies comparisons, and that replication is good scientific practice. Reporting the outcomes of CFA on existing scales provides useful information that facilities knowledge generation and can minimize costly scientific dead-ends.

Modeling the ego-defensive function of attitudes

Studying the psychological needs served by holding certain attitudes is the focus of the functional approach to attitudinal research. One function evidenced consistently in attitudinal studies is the ego-defensive function. Attitudes serving an ego-defensive function protect ones self-concept from counterattitudinal messages about the self. This paper presents an alternative perspective for understanding the ego-defensive function by conceiving and modeling it as a causal process. The data were consistent with a hypothesized model in which a message threatening to a salient aspect of self-concept, as opposed to a non-threatening message, initiates ego-defensiveness resulting in more negative message-related thoughts, discounting message content, and source derogation. Source derogation was related negatively to conformity to message recommendations. These findings suggest a new way of thinking about the ego-defensive function and the ways in which people respond to counterattitudinal information about an issue on which they are highly ego-involved.

Portrayals of Male and Female Scientists in Television Programs Popular Among Middle School-Age Children

This content analysis examined portrayals of scientist characters in 14 television programs popular among or likely to have been viewed by middle school—age children. While male scientists significantly outnumbered and appeared in significantly more scenes than did female scientists, males and females were depicted similarly in reference to professional position, marital status, and parental status. Gender-stereotyped behavior was largely absent in portrayals of scientist characters. Additionally, both male and female scientists were portrayed most often with the wishful identification attribute of intelligence. Implications for middle school—age children’s perceptions of scientists and for cultivating girls’ interest in science careers are discussed.