RELATIVE EFFICACY OF IMAGERY, PERSUASION, AND EMPATHIC MESSAGES FOR INDUCING COMMITMENT TO POSTHUMOUS ORGAN DONATION.
Item
-
Title
-
RELATIVE EFFICACY OF IMAGERY, PERSUASION, AND EMPATHIC MESSAGES FOR INDUCING COMMITMENT TO POSTHUMOUS ORGAN DONATION.
-
Identifier
-
AAI8713782
-
identifier
-
8713782
-
Creator
-
PARISI-RIZZO, NINA.
-
Contributor
-
Irwin Katz
-
Date
-
1987
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Education, Educational Psychology
-
Abstract
-
Dramatic biotechnical advances are establishing organ transplantation as a practical life-saving procedure. However, there are not enough people who are willing to donate their organs for posthumous use. An attitude change study was designed to promote willingness to sign posthumous donation pledges by arousing positive attitudes (i.e., altruistic sentiments) and reducing negative attitudes (i.e., fear of bodily mutilation and inadequate medical treatment). Furthermore negative attitudes about organ donation were thought to reflect two different psychological processes: affective and cognitive. It was argued that fear of posthumous mutilation was less amenable to reduction by means of a cognitive appeal than was fear of premature death due to medical neglect. To reduce the former type of fear an emotive imagery technique was devised. A promotional appeal was written to arouse prodonation beliefs by creating an empathic role set. Each promotional appeal was designed to create a specific psychological state that would mediate donation behavior: (1) positive appeal--empathic concern; (2) affectively-based fear reduction message--anxiety reduction; and (3) cognitively-based fear reduction message--skepticism reduction.;One hundred and seventeen corporation employees listened to one of four tape-recorded donation messages. Tape 1 contained the empathic role set appeal. Tape 2 contained the empathy appeal plus emotive imagery instructions to allay fear of posthumous mutilation. Tape 3 contained the empathy appeal plus a persuasive message to reduce fear of inadequate medical treatment. Tape 4 was a combination of all three messages. Two control groups, who engaged in filler tasks, were included to provide baseline data. Within a one-way analysis of variance framework (4 experimental plus 2 control groups), a priori contrasts revealed that subjects who received a prodonation appeal combined with a double fear reduction message revealed the highest commitment to donate. The single fear messages (Tapes 2 and 3) yielded the lowest commitment to sign a donor card. The results suggest that to promote commitment to posthumous organ donation, it is best to either emphasize the positive aspects of donation or reduce both types of fear simultaneously. The relatively small proportion of participants who actually signed donor cards suggests that fear of posthumous mutilation and inadequate medical care mirror a much more basic fear--namely, fear of personal death. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
-
Program
-
Psychology
