SELF-AFFIRMATION REDUCES BIASED PROCESSING OF HEALTH-RISK INFORMATION

An experiment tested whether a positive experience (the endorsement an d recall of one's past acts of kindness) would reduce biased processin g of self-relevant health-risk information. Women college students (N = 66) who reported high or low levels of daily caffeine use were expos ed to both risk-confirming and risk-disconfirming information about th e link between caffeine consumption and fibrocystic breast disease (FB D). Participants were randomly assigned to complete an affirmation of their kindness via questionnaire or to a no-affirmation condition. Res ults indicated that the affirmation manipulation made frequent caffein e drinkers more open, less biased processors of risk-related informati on. Relative to frequent caffeine drinkers who did not affirm their ki ndness, frequent caffeine drinkers in the affirmation condition orient ed more quickly to the risk-confirming information, rated the risk-con firming information as more convincing than the risk-disconfirming inf ormation, and recalled less risk-disconfirming information at a 1-week follow-up. They also reported greater perceived personal control over reducing their level of caffeine consumption. Although frequent caffe ine drinkers in the affirmation condition initially reported lower int entions to reduce their caffeine consumption, there was no evidence th at they were less likely to decrease their caffeine consumption at the follow-up. The possibility that positive beliefs and experiences func tion as self-regulatory resources among people confronting threats to health and well-being is discussed.