Creating Persuasive Messages Advocating Organ Donation

Most people state that they would be willing to be organ donors, however only a small percentage of the population has actually signed an organ donor card. These studies focused on persuasive messages that encourage people to sign organ donor cards. In the first study, people reported their attitudes and knowledge involving organ donation. Results indicated that donor card signing was related to overall knowledge about donation. When only considering those people with positive attitudes toward organ donation, their overall knowledge about donation explained their willingness to sign organ donor cards. In the second study, people read a message involving organ donation before they were asked to sign an organ donor card. The content of the message (i.e., narrative vs. statistics) and the affect of the message (i.e., humorous vs. sad) were manipulated. Results indicated that narrative messages were more effective than statistical messages. Additionally, humorous messages were more effective than sad messages.

[1]  N. Schwarz,et al.  Sufficient and necessary conditions in dual process models : The case of mood and information processing , 1999 .

[2]  N. Kuiper,et al.  Cognitive appraisals and individual differences in sense of humor: Motivational and affective implications , 1995 .

[3]  Susan E. Morgan,et al.  Communicating about gifts of life: the effect of knowledge, attitudes, and altruism on behavior and behavioral intentions regarding organ donation , 2002 .

[4]  Robin L. Nabi.  The effect of disgust‐eliciting visuals on attitudes toward animal experimentation , 1998 .

[5]  R. L. Horton,et al.  Knowledge regarding organ donation: identifying and overcoming barriers to organ donation. , 1990, Social science & medicine.

[6]  A. A. Lumsdaine.  Communication and persuasion , 1954 .

[7]  D. O’Keefe.  Persuasion , 1990, The Handbook of Communication Skills.

[8]  G. Tufveson,et al.  Evaluation of an organ-donor-card campaign in Sweden. , 1995, Clinical transplantation.

[9]  J. M. Puckett,et al.  The relative impact of age and attractiveness stereotypes on persuasion. , 1983, Journal of gerontology.

[10]  J. Suls,et al.  The relative efficacy of avoidant and nonavoidant coping strategies: a meta-analysis. , 1985, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[11]  L. Wallinger.  Don't Smile Before Christmas: The Role of Humor in Education , 1997 .

[12]  J. Cacioppo,et al.  Issue Involvement As a Moderator of the Effects on Attitude of Advertising Content and Context , 1981 .

[13]  Sandi W. Smith,et al.  Memorability and Persuasiveness of Organ Donation Message Strategies , 1991 .

[14]  D. Cicchetti.  Emotion and Adaptation , 1993 .

[15]  Mike Allen,et al.  Testing the persuasiveness of evidence: Combining narrative and statistical forms , 2000 .

[16]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  Decisions to donate bone marrow: The role of attitudes and subjective norms across cultures , 2001 .

[17]  R. Cialdini.  Influence: Science and Practice , 1984 .

[18]  Judee K. Burgoon,et al.  The Temporal Effects of Story and Statistical Evidence on Belief Change , 1994 .

[19]  E. James Baesler,et al.  Persuasive Effects of Story and Statistical Evidence , 1997 .

[20]  Franziska Marquart,et al.  Communication and persuasion : central and peripheral routes to attitude change , 1988 .

[21]  R. Parrott,et al.  Enlarging the Role of Environment as a Social Influence Constructing Health Campaigns , 2002 .

[22]  Al Anneloes Meijnders,et al.  Persuasion and the structure of affect , 2002 .

[23]  Raymond W. Preiss,et al.  Comparing the persuasiveness of narrative and statistical evidence using meta‐analysis , 1997 .

[24]  Joohn C. Reinard.  The Empirical Study of the Persuasive Effects of Evidence The Status After Fifty Years of Research , 1988 .

[25]  Timothy C. Brock,et al.  Distraction Increases Yielding to Propaganda by Inhibiting Counterarguing. , 1970 .

[26]  Sandi W. Smith,et al.  Understanding the audiences of a health communication campaign: A discriminant analysis of potential organ donors based on intent to donate , 1996 .

[27]  H. Leventhal,et al.  A perceptual-motor theory of emotion , 1984 .

[28]  Lily A. Arasaratnam,et al.  Signing cards, saving lives: an evaluation of the worksite organ donation promotion project , 2002 .

[29]  W. DeJong,et al.  Requesting organ donation: an interview study of donor and nondonor families. , 1998, American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

[30]  John T. Cacioppo,et al.  The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion , 1986, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology.

[31]  R. L. Horton,et al.  A model of willingness to become a potential organ donor. , 1991, Social science & medicine.

[32]  S. Fiske,et al.  Social Psychology , 2019, Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences.

[33]  J. Mccroskey,et al.  An Introduction to Interpersonal Communication , 1971 .

[34]  Veronica Olsson,et al.  Humor in Advertising , 2005 .

[35]  S. Duck.  Meaningful relationships : talking, sense, and relating , 1994 .

[36]  Sandi W. Smith,et al.  Affective and cognitive reactions to narrative versus statistical evidence organ donation messages. , 1998 .

[37]  H. Kelley,et al.  Communication and Persuasion: Psychological Studies of Opinion Change , 1982 .

[38]  M. Sanner.  Attitudes toward organ donation and transplantation. A model for understanding reactions to medical procedures after death. , 1994, Social science & medicine.

[39]  Dean Kazoleas,et al.  A comparison of the persuasive effectiveness of qualitative versus quantitative evidence: A test of explanatory hypotheses , 1993 .

[40]  D. Markiewicz,et al.  Effects of humor on persuasion. , 1974 .

[41]  Michael Conway,et al.  Humor in Persuasion on Threatening Topics: Effectiveness Is a Function of Audience Sex Role Orientation , 2002 .

[42]  J. Jaccard,et al.  Signing an organ donation letter: The prediction of behavior from behavioral intentions , 1999 .

[43]  James Price Dillard,et al.  Persuasion and the Structure of Affect: Dual Systems and Discrete Emotions as Complementary Models. , 2001 .

[44]  Carolyn K. Shue,et al.  Reflections on the past, directions for the future: A template for the study and instruction of interpersonal communication , 2000 .

[45]  J. Turner.  Human Emotions: A Sociological Theory , 2007 .

[46]  K. Morrison,et al.  The Influence of Prior Thought and Intent on the Memorability and Persuasiveness of Organ Donation Message Strategies , 1994 .