| Popis: |
People may be motivated to exercise for predominantly extrinsic reasons, those stemming from outside the person, or intrinsic reasons, those providing no obvious external incentives. Research has shown that the frame of a health message (i.e., benefit focused “gain” messages or consequence focused “loss” messages), as well how much one enjoys effortful thinking, called “need for cognition”, are important variables to consider in understanding the impact of messages promoting health behaviors such as exercise. The present study investigated the role of need for cognition in the relationship between message framing and motivation for increasing exercise behavior. Young adults were randomized to read 1 of 4 messages encouraging exercise and subsequent changes in physical activity were recorded. Need for cognition significantly (p = .005) moderated the effectiveness of the frame and motivation relationship such that individuals high in need for cognition increased exercise behavior more after viewing a message where frame and motivation matched, as opposed to a message where frame and motivation did not match. The reverse was true for those individuals low in need for cognition. Important practical implications of these findings for those in the health promotion field are discussed. |
