Je. Kopfman et al., AFFECTIVE AND COGNITIVE REACTIONS TO NARRATIVE VERSUS STATISTICAL EVIDENCE ORGAN DONATION MESSAGES, Journal of applied communications research, 26(3), 1998, pp. 279-300
Persuasive health messages have been examined for their effectiveness,
but few studies have explored the cognitive and affective reactions t
o these messages. The goal of the present research was to gain insight
into the cognitive and affective reactions to statistical evidence an
d narrative persuasive messages about organ donation in order to deter
mine why these different types of evidence are persuasive. The influen
ce of prior thought and intent about organ donation on these reactions
also was explored. Cognitive reactions examined included total, posit
ive, and negative thoughts about organ donation, message ratings, and
assessments of causal relevance, while affective reactions examined in
cluded positive and negative emotions about organ donation and anxiety
. Results indicated a main effect for evidence type such that statisti
cal evidence messages produced greater results in terms of all the cog
nitive reactions, while narratives produced greater results for all of
the affective reactions. A main effect for level of prior thought and
intent regarding organ donation indicated that this variable influenc
es both cognitive and affective reactions to persuasive organ donation
messages. No interaction effects were found to be significant. In ter
ms of the Heuristic Systematic Model of persuasion, statistical eviden
ce messages rr ere found to enhance both systematic and heuristic proc
essing while narratives were found to enhance only heuristic processin
g. Implications for health communication practitioners are discussed.