TY - JOUR
T1 - Neural Predictors of Message Effectiveness during Counterarguing in Antidrug Campaigns
AU - Weber, René
AU - Huskey, Richard
AU - Mangus, J. Michael
AU - Westcott-Baker, Amber
AU - Turner, Benjamin O.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 National Communication Association.
PY - 2015/1/2
Y1 - 2015/1/2
N2 - A substantial amount of research has focused on predicting the effectiveness of persuasive messages. However, characteristics of both the message itself and its receiver can impact theoretically predicted effects. For example, recent work published in this journal demonstrated that issue involvement modulates the relationship between message sensation value (MSV) and argument strength (AS). When exposed to anti-cannabis public service announcements (PSAs), high-drug-risk individuals rate these messages as having low effectiveness regardless of variation in MSV and AS. Accordingly, for high-risk individuals, MSV and AS lose their predictive power in message design; moreover, the all too common use of high MSV, high AS PSAs to dissuade drug use may be ineffective, as high-risk viewers are more likely to engage in counterarguing. In this paper, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural correlates of counterarguing. Subsequently, we employ a brain-as-predictor approach using neural activation and self-report data to predict message effectiveness in two independent samples. We demonstrate that by adding two neural predictors within the middle frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus to self-report data, the prediction accuracy of message effectiveness in high-drug-risk individuals during counterarguing can reach, and even surpass, the prediction accuracy for low-drug-risk individuals.
AB - A substantial amount of research has focused on predicting the effectiveness of persuasive messages. However, characteristics of both the message itself and its receiver can impact theoretically predicted effects. For example, recent work published in this journal demonstrated that issue involvement modulates the relationship between message sensation value (MSV) and argument strength (AS). When exposed to anti-cannabis public service announcements (PSAs), high-drug-risk individuals rate these messages as having low effectiveness regardless of variation in MSV and AS. Accordingly, for high-risk individuals, MSV and AS lose their predictive power in message design; moreover, the all too common use of high MSV, high AS PSAs to dissuade drug use may be ineffective, as high-risk viewers are more likely to engage in counterarguing. In this paper, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural correlates of counterarguing. Subsequently, we employ a brain-as-predictor approach using neural activation and self-report data to predict message effectiveness in two independent samples. We demonstrate that by adding two neural predictors within the middle frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus to self-report data, the prediction accuracy of message effectiveness in high-drug-risk individuals during counterarguing can reach, and even surpass, the prediction accuracy for low-drug-risk individuals.
KW - Antidrug Public Service Announcements
KW - Brain Imaging
KW - Counterarguing
KW - Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
KW - Health Communication
KW - Persuasion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84921601729&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03637751.2014.971414
DO - 10.1080/03637751.2014.971414
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84921601729
SN - 0363-7751
VL - 82
SP - 4
EP - 30
JO - Communication Monographs
JF - Communication Monographs
IS - 1
ER -