The current research advances a social dilemma analysis of commuting, examining the roles of preexisting personality differences in social value orientation (i.e., prosocial vs. proself orientation) and trust (i.e., a general belief in the honesty and cooperative intentions of others) in determining preferences for collectively desirable commuting options: preferences for commuting by public transportation (Study 1) and carpooling (Study 2). Consistent with predictions, both studies revealed that, relative to preferences of prosocials, preferences of proselfs were more strongly associated with beliefs about the relative efficiency of cars (i.e., an outcome affecting personal well-being). Also, greater preferences for collectively desirable actions were observed among prosocials with high trust-relative to prosocials with low trust and proselfs with high or low trust-providing support for the claim that 2 conditions (i.e., prosocial goals and trust in others) must be met to obtain collectively desirable commuting preferences.
This article reports on the effectiveness of the first systematically developed health education intervention for the reduction of risky sexual behavior among soon-to-be-released prisoners in South Africa. Data from three out of four prisons are eligible for data analysis including 263 inmates. Using a nested experimental design, short-term evaluation while inmates were still in prison demonstrate that experimental groups showed higher knowledge of sexually transmitted infections and had a more positive intention to reduce risky behavior than the control group in two out of three prisons. Long-term assessment 3 to 6 months after release from prison indicates that experimental groups were more positive about sexual communication, self-efficacy, and intention. Groups educated by an HIV-negative educator perform marginally better than those in groups with an HIV-positive peer educator. It is argued that peer-led health education programs may be effective in reducing risky behavior amongst soon-to-be-released inmates.
Health-promoting messages can be framed in terms of the gains associated with healthy behaviour or the losses associated with unhealthy behaviour. It has been argued that gain-framed messages promoting physical activity (PA) are more effective than loss-framed messages, but empirical findings are inconsistent. Also, no previous studies investigated the effects of gain- and loss-framed messages in the context of a computer-tailored PA intervention. In this study, we provided participants with computer-generated tailored feedback concerning their PA levels. In total, 787 participants entered in the study, of whom 299 completed all measures at a 3-month follow-up. We investigated whether gain- and loss-framed messages promoting PA affected information acceptance, attitude, intention and behaviour differently. The results showed that gain-framed messages resulted in stronger intentions to be physically active than loss-framed messages. This did not result in a significant increase in actual PA, however, as measured by a 3-month follow-up assessment. For information acceptance and attitude, a non-significant advantage of gain-framed messages was found. All effects had small effect sizes. Thus, whereas gain-framed information might be more persuasive than loss-framed information when it comes to promoting PA, the differences between gain- and loss-framed messages are likely to be small.
The simulation heuristic of Kahnemann and Tversky (1982) suggests that the subjective ease by which a risky situation can be mentally construed, positively influences the person's perceived susceptibility to the presented threat. Assuming that a detailed outline of how a risky event can end up negatively increases the ease of imagination, we tested the hypothesis that scenario-based risk information enhances perceived susceptibility towards contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI). In an experimental design, undergraduate students were exposed to one or two risk scenario messages or no scenario message (control). The results confirmed the hypothesis, but only when more than one risk scenario message was provided. This adds to the evidence that presenting scenario-based messages could be a feasible method to influence risk perceptions.
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