Premium
An Attitude Functions Approach to Increasing Organ‐Donation Participation 1
Author(s) -
Julka Deana L.,
Marsh Kerry L.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2005.tb02148.x
Subject(s) - organ donation , psychology , donation , social psychology , matching (statistics) , situational ethics , function (biology) , action (physics) , value (mathematics) , attitude change , transplantation , medicine , computer science , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , evolutionary biology , machine learning , economics , biology , economic growth , surgery
This research tests a tenet of attitude function theory–the motivational matching hypothesis–by using a functional approach to increase organ donation. Pilot studies validated experimental manipulations and persuasive messages. An experiment tested the hypothesis that persuasive messages that match an aroused function would be more effective than messages that do not match a manipulated function. Participants were exposed to situational manipulations designed to arouse or make salient value‐expressive or knowledge needs, then read an organ‐donation message designed to meet one of these needs. Participants’ organ‐donation attitudes and behaviors were assessed. Participants presented with matching messages were most persuaded and took more action to become donors. Those who experienced stronger motivational arousal exhibited the most change.