Persuading people to drink less alcohol: the role of message framing, temporal focus and autonomy

Aims: Health information can be used to try to persuade people to follow safe drinking recommendations. Both the framing of information and the dispositional characteristics of message recipients need to be considered, however. An online study was conducted to examine how level of autonomy moderated the effect on drinking behaviour of gain- and loss-framed messages about the short- vs. long-term consequences of alcohol use. Methods: At Time 1, participants (N = 335) provided demographic information and completed a measure of autonomy. At Time 2, participants reported baseline alcohol use and read a gain-framed or loss-framed health message which highlighted either short- or long-term outcomes of alcohol consumption. Alcohol consumption was reported 7-days later. Results: The results showed a significant three-way interaction between message framing (loss vs. gain), temporal focus (short-term vs. long-term), and autonomy. For low-autonomy (but not high-autonomy) individuals, the loss-framed health message was associated with lower levels of alcohol consumption than was the gain-framed message, but only if the short-term outcomes were conveyed. Conclusions: The current research provides evidence that the interaction between message framing and temporal focus may depend on a person’s level of autonomy, which has implications for health promotion and the construction of effective health communication messages

Combining Self-Affirmation and Implementation Intentions: Evidence of Detrimental Effects on Behavioral Outcomes

Background There is limited evidence that self-affirmation manipulations can promote health behavior change. Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore whether the efficacy of a self-affirmation manipulation at promoting exercise could be enhanced by an implementation intention intervention. Methods Participants (Study 1N =120, Study 2N =116) were allocated to one of four conditions resulting from the two (self-affirmation manipulation: no affirmation, affirmation) by two (implementation intention manipulation: no implementation intention, implementation intention) experimental design. Exercise behavior was assessed 1 week post intervention. Results Contrary to prediction, those participants receiving both manipulations were significantly less likely to increase the amount they exercised compared to those receiving only the self-affirmation manipulation. Conclusion Incorporating an implementation intention manipulation alongside a self-affirmation manipulation had a detrimental effect on exercise behavior; participants receiving both manipulations exercised significantly less in the week following the intervention

The impact of autonomy-framed and control-framed implementation intentions on snacking behaviour: the moderating effect of eating self-efficacy

Background. Autonomy-supportive implementation intention exercises have been shown to facilitate goal-directed behaviour (Koestner et al., 2006). The current study explored whether eating self-efficacy moderated the impact of autonomy-framed versus control-framed implementation intentions to reduce high-calorie snack intake. Methods. The study employed a randomized prospective design, involving two waves of data collection conducted in 2016. At Time 1, UK participants (N = 300) completed an online questionnaire which asked them to report their snacking behaviour over the previous 7 days. Participants were subsequently asked to form either an autonomy-framed implementation intention or a control-framed implementation intention. Seven days later, participants reported their consumption of high-calorie snacks and completed a measure of eating self-efficacy. Results. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that eating self-efficacy moderated the effects of implementation intention framing. Autonomy-framed implementation intentions had a greater impact on the avoidance of snacking for high eating self-efficacy participants than did control-framed implementation intentions. In contrast, for low eating self-efficacy participants, control-framed implementation intentions had more impact than did autonomy-framed implementation intentions. Conclusions. The results suggest that if implementation intentions to promote healthy diet are to be effective, the role of eating self-efficacy should be considered, and the design of interventions adapted accordingly

Proscriptive injunctions can elicit greater reactance and lower legitimacy perceptions than prescriptive injunctions

Based on previous research investigating proscriptive injunctions (requesting that one should not do something) versus prescriptive injunctions (requesting that one should do something), we propose that proscription leads to greater reactance than does prescription for a range of actions, and that this effect is associated with lower perceived legitimacy of the injunction. Across five experimental studies, our student and general population samples received proscriptions or prescriptions and reported their reactance. Proscription led to greater reactance than did prescription in all five studies. This effect was accentuated by an authoritative source (Study 2), was mediated by the perceived legitimacy of the request (Study 3 and Study 4), and was attenuated by a self-affirmation intervention (Study 5). We suggest that proscriptions are viewed as more obligatory than prescriptions, limit the scope of behavioral alternatives, restrict perceived autonomy, and elicit greater reactance. The findings have implications for the design of effective persuasive communications

Smoothing Pathways to Transfer in the Humanities: A Report on the Strengthening Michigan Humanities Project

This report describes the rationale, goals, and activities of the Strengthening Michigan Humanities (MiHumanities) project, an effort led by the Michigan Community College Association (MCCA) and funded by the Mellon Foundation. The project is designed to strengthen community college transfer pathways in four humanities fields—communication, English, history, and theater—by identifying and using promising strategies to connect community college students to programs of study in these areas and by increasing coordination and curricular alignment between two- and four-year institutions. The authors analyze state administrative data collected by the Michigan Education Data Center to present statistics and trends in community college student course enrollments, transfer, and bachelor’s degree completion in a wide array of humanities fields, including the four Strengthening MiHumanities disciplines, and the liberal arts. They also summarize findings from interviews with faculty, staff, and students to highlight promising approaches to strengthening humanities transfer outcomes. An infographic on measures that illustrate the opportunities and challenge of Michigan transfer in the humanities is available inside the report and as a separate document

Vitamin D status is heritable and under environment‐dependent selection in the wild

Vitamin D has a well‐established role in skeletal health and is increasingly linked to chronic disease and mortality in humans and companion animals. Despite the clear significance of vitamin D for health and obvious implications for fitness under natural conditions, no longitudinal study has tested whether the circulating concentration of vitamin D is under natural selection in the wild. Here, we show that concentrations of dietary‐derived vitamin D(2) and endogenously produced vitamin D(3) metabolites are heritable and largely polygenic in a wild population of Soay sheep (Ovis aries). Vitamin D(2) status was positively associated with female adult survival, and vitamin D(3) status predicted female fecundity in particular, good environment years when sheep density and competition for resources was low. Our study provides evidence that vitamin D status has the potential to respond to selection, and also provides new insights into how vitamin D metabolism is associated with fitness in the wild

Increased rates of large-magnitude explosive eruptions in Japan in the late Neogene and Quaternary

Tephra layers in marine sediment cores from scientific ocean drilling largely record high-magnitude silicic explosive eruptions in the Japan arc for up to the last 20 million years. Analysis of the thickness variation with distance of 180 tephra layers from a global dataset suggests that the majority of the visible tephra layers used in this study are the products of caldera-forming eruptions with magnitude (M) >6, considering their distances at the respective drilling sites to their likely volcanic sources. Frequency of visible tephra layers in cores indicates a marked increase in rates of large magnitude explosive eruptions at ~8 Ma, 6–4 Ma and further increase after ~2 Ma. These changes are attributed to major changes in tectonic plate interactions. Lower rates of large magnitude explosive volcanism in the Miocene are related to a strike-slip dominated boundary (and temporary cessation or deceleration of subduction) between the Philippine Sea Plate and southwest Japan, combined with the possibility that much of the arc in northern Japan was submerged beneath sea level partly due to previous tectonic extension of Northern Honshu related to formation of the Sea of Japan. Changes in plate motions and subduction dynamics during the ~8 Ma to present period led to (1) increased arc-normal subduction in southwest Japan (and resumption of arc volcanism) and (2) shift from extension to compression of the upper plate in northeast Japan, leading to uplift, crustal thickening and favourable conditions for accumulation of the large volumes of silicic magma needed for explosive caldera-forming eruptions