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Self-affirmation enhances attentional bias toward threatening components of a persuasive message
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 13:45 authored by William M. P. Klein, Pete HarrisPete HarrisWe explored whether self-affirmation enhances attentional bias toward threatening elements of a persuasive message. Female alcohol consumers read an article linking alcohol to breast cancer and were then exposed supraliminally to threat and nonthreat words from the article (as well as threat and nonthreat words that did not appear in the article). Among moderately heavy drinkers who were not self-affirmed, there emerged an attentional bias away from the threatening words in the article-a result suggesting an avoidant response. However, among moderately heavy drinkers who were self-affirmed, there was a bias toward the threatening words. No attentional biases appeared for threat words not in the message, which suggested that the effect was threat specific. Moreover, no attentional biases were found among the heaviest drinkers. Self-affirmation may facilitate targeted implicit processing of threatening messages, although the effects could attenuate among individuals engaging in high levels of the behavior featured in the message.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Psychological ScienceISSN
1467-9280Publisher
Blackwell PublishingExternal DOI
Issue
12Volume
20Page range
1463-1467Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2012-11-16Usage metrics
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