Change Your Ways: Fostering Health Attitudes Toward Change Through Selective Exposure to Online Health Messages

• Published in: Health communication Vol. 32; no. 5; pp. 639 - 649
• Main Authors: Westerwick, Axel, Johnson, Benjamin K., Knobloch-Westerwick, Silvia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Routledge 04-05-2017; Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Attitude to Health; Attitudes; Change agents; Coffee; Consumer health information; Credibility; Exercise; Exposure; Female; Food consumption; Fruit; Health; Health Behavior; Health information; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health promotion; Healthy food; Humans; Information seeking behavior; Internet; Male; Messages; Physical exercise; Selective exposure; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1041-0236; 1532-7027
• DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2016.1160319

Health information is often sought online, despite varying credibility of online sources, and may shape health behaviors. This investigation builds on the Selective Exposure Self- and Affect-Management model to examine selective exposure to online health information from low- and high-credibility sources and subsequent effects on attitudes toward health behaviors. In a lab study, 419 participants accessed online search results about health topics. The display varied messages in a 4 × 2 × 2 all within-subjects design, with topic as a four-step factor (organic food, coffee, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical exercise) and source credibility (low vs. high) and issue stance (promoting vs. opposing health behavior) as two-step factors. Displayed messages either promoted or opposed the related behavior. Results showed that perceiving greater standard-behavior discrepancy (between recommended behavior standards and own behavior) fostered behavior-related attitudes through selective exposure to messages promoting that behavior. The effects from selective exposure to health messages on attitudes occurred regardless of associated source credibility.