Although there is a large body of research on the effectiveness of a variety of strategies for designing health messages, much of this research consists of experimental studies concerned with the immediate persuasive effects of message exposure on isolated individuals. Thus, these studies typically do not measure talk as an outcome of health message exposure. However, research suggests that talk about health messages can influence message effects. Specifically, the nature of talk in response to health messages (i.e., whether it is supportive or unsupportive of the message) and the degree of message elaboration generated by talk have important implications for the effects of messages on attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. Research also suggests that intense emotion plays an important role in generating talk about health messages.

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the effects of health messages containing shifts in emotional valence on the likelihood of talk, features of the talk generated, as well as psychological and behavioral outcomes, when compared to messages that were singular in their emotional valence. This research was the first to conduct an experiment to compare the effects of two persuasive health messages containing shifts in emotional valence – from a positive to a negative emotion (pos-neg) or from a negative to a positive emotion (neg-pos) – with two single-valence emotional messages, one negative and one positive, on outcomes related to talk and persuasion. Attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral outcomes were measured at two time points, immediately following message exposure and again one week later. Information about conversations related to the message and/or behavior were also collected at the one-week follow-up.

Emotional shift messages were found to generate more talk than single-valence messages because they were more emotionally intense and elicited greater message processing. These mediating variables were also responsible for the effect of emotional shift messages on persuasive outcomes at Time 1 and Time 2. This demonstrates the potential of emotional shift messages to promote both talk and persuasion. Additionally, messages ending with negative emotion were more effective in influencing beliefs and attitudes at Time 1 as well as generating not only more talk but more positive talk compared to messages that ended with positive emotion. This research also revealed that intention to avoid texting while driving immediately following message exposure had a greater influence on beliefs and behavior at Time 2 than talk. This suggests that the characteristics of talk may be a more important determinant of message effects than whether talk occurred.

Past research on social comparison and media has not explored how comparisons shift over the course of a program, or more specifically, how different comparison directions alter audiences' affective states and behavior. Using an experimental design that manipulated comparison direction by exposing participants to the beginning and/or the ending of a weight loss reality program, the present study found mixed support for a newly proposed Affect Model of Social Comparison (AMSC). As predicted, different comparison directions contributed to specific emotions and health behaviors. Those who made more upward health comparisons felt more envy, which in turn contributed to increased health behavioral intent. Hope was also identified as an indirect mediator in the upward health comparison-health behavioral intent relationship. Further, upward comparisons led individuals to consume more healthy snacks, and downward comparisons led individuals to consume more unhealthy snacks. This experiment indexes the importance of discrete emotions in social comparison processes, and highlights the need for research on nuanced comparison behavior that evolves as characters evolve.

Using an online questionnaire-based experimental design, self-identified U.S. Latino adults (N = 947) recalled and described one of three randomly assigned types of stress events: general stress (GS), discrimination-related stress (DRS), and rejection-related stress (RRS). Participants’ emotional reactions were expected to vary by condition. They then selected a video to watch from a media menu. It was expected that their selections would affect post-viewing emotional and quality of life outcomes. Results showed that there were differences among the emotional reactions and media-based coping selection depending on the type of event that participants described.Participants recalling a DRS event reported more anger compared to the GS and RRS groups. Those recalling an RRS event reported more shame than the GS group but not the DRS group. Participants who recalled a DRS event were more likely to select eudaimonic and ingroup media compared to all other groups. Those who recalled an RRS event were more likely than those in the GS group to select hedonic media, but not those in the DRS group. Those who recalled an RRS event were more likely to select outgroup media compared to those in the DRS group but not those in the GS group. Thus, the RRS condition acted as a middle step between recalling a DRS and a GS event. These results demonstrate that the different types of stressors that U.S. Latinos face elicit specific emotions and lead to specific media-based coping strategies. Moreover, participants’ media-based coping selection affected their subsequent emotion and quality of life outcomes like increasing pride and ethnic group commitment.