PRIMARY MESSAGE APPEAL, ATTITUDE, and DIET by NATHAN
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PRIMARY MESSAGE APPEAL, ATTITUDE, AND DIET by NATHAN SADORUS B.A., University of Colorado Colorado Springs, 2017 A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Communication 2017 © 2017 NATHAN SADORUS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii This thesis for the Master of Arts degree by Nathan Sadorus has been approved for the Department of Communication by Carmen Stavrositu, Chair George Cheney Maja Krakowiak Date:___12/11/17______ iii Sadorus, Nathan (M.A., Communication) Primary Message Appeal, Attitude, and Diet Thesis directed by Associate Professor Carmen Stavrositu. ABSTRACT This study examined two different appeals (rational vs. emotional) in the format of two short documentary clips aimed at influencing viewers to adopt a plant-based diet. Participants (N = 127) viewed one of two 2-minute documentary clips that explain the health benefits of adopting a plant-based diet from either a rational appeal based on scientific facts delivered by credible sources or from an emotional appeal of a personal testimonial where the speaker is overcome with emotion about the personal benefits experienced from her adoption of a plant-based diet. Participants viewed each clip and then rated the clip on perceived argument strength and attitude toward the message measures. The manipulation check of each appeal showed that each appeal was statistically significant. Therefore, the manipulation used in this study was effective. Findings indicate that neither message produced significant attitude favorability or perceived argument strength differences. An additional measure, Need for Cognition (NFC), was included to discover if people categorized as high NFC (N = 45) and low NFC (N = 33) favor one appeal over the other. While the findings did indicate slight preferences, neither one was statistically significant. Theoretical and practical implications including a section on limitations and ideas for future research are included at the conclusion of the discussion section of this thesis. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my thesis committee for taking the time to develop this thesis and offer helpful guidance throughout my graduate studies. Special thanks to Dr. George Cheney for meeting with me on several occasions to brainstorm possible committee members and a chair while also facilitating the communication between members in the beginning stages. Dr. Carmen Stavrositu was instrumental in advancing my growth in graduate-level statistics and helped translate and structure the knowledge into academic form for this thesis. Dr. Krawkowiak has been extremely busy for the last few semesters, and I feel honored that she would serve on my committee and offer her time. A few acknowledgments are in order for non-committee members, and first and foremost I would like to thank Janice Thorpe. Janice has been my “lifeline” in many academic matters from my undergraduate degree up until the present. As her Research Assistant, I learned a lot about data collection, building surveys, and recruiting participants. I appreciate her confidence in me as she asked me to serve as a guest lecturer in research methods. Furthermore, add a portion of writing to her recent submission for publication. Dr. Morreale has served as an inspirational mentor, and I credit her with the choice of pursuing a career as an instructor. She honed my public speaking skills and gave me the opportunity to serve as her teaching assistant in the advanced public speaking course. Dr. Bell is a pivotal piece in my journey, as I met with him on numerous occasions to discuss course selection, career advice, and he has genuinely lent me his honest attention. Furthermore, he exposed me to the tedious but necessary nature of coding. I could not discuss everyone in this short acknowledgment, but I would like to thank the many faculty members that I did not mention and the Communication Department overall. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................1 Background.....................................................................................................2 II. LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................................................8 Rhetoric...........................................................................................................8 Affective and Cognitive Attitude Structure..................................................18 Food Classification.......................................................................................21 Affective and Cognitive Appeals..................................................................22 Need for Cognition.......................................................................................27 III. METHODS.........................................................................................................35 Participants and Procedure............................................................................35 Stimulus Material..........................................................................................36 Measures.......................................................................................................37 IV. RESULTS...........................................................................................................41 V. DISCUSSION.....................................................................................................44 Theoretical and Practical Implications..........................................................44 VI. LIMITATIONS...................................................................................................47 VII. CONCLUSION..................................................................................................51 REFERENCES...................................................................................................52 APPENDICES....................................................................................................58 Recruitment Letter Study…………………………………………………..58 Online Questionnaire....................................................................................60 PRIMARY MESSAGE APPEAL, ATTITUDE, AND DIET 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Climatologists, environmental communication scholars, activists, and concerned researchers in a variety of fields seek to educate the public on ways of lessening environmental impact. Documentaries are educating the public on the harmful effects animal agriculture has on climate change because articles that discuss climate change are rarely discussing meat’s devastating influence on the environment. Neff, Chan, and Smith (2008) reviewed over 4,500 topical climate change articles and found that only 2.4% discussed meat’s contribution to the problem. Therefore, documentaries face the tough task of informing and motivating the masses to change their behavior and attitude. Organizations like PETA use graphic portrayals of animal storage conditions to evoke emotion in the audience. However, emotion is not only used in graphic portrayals but can also be used through creative and inspirational commentary that resonates with the audience as a role model of inspiration. In a different approach, credible academic scholars opt for a rational yet informed discourse that focuses on the health benefits associated with eating a plant-based diet (Arora, Bradford, Arora, & Gavino, 2017). This thesis compares two different type of appeal one of the two appeals is the rational appeal which uses a “thinking” and “functional” appeal to persuade through statements of scientific research and testimony as to improve the function of overall health one receives by adopting a plant-based diet Dube et al., (as cited in Ruiz, & Sicilia, 2004). The second type of appeal is the emotional appeal which seeks to influence someone by an appeal to their emotions, and they advance their argument through a number of possible emotional responses including PRIMARY MESSAGE APPEAL, ATTITUDE, AND DIET 2 fear, anxiety, sadness, joy, shame, guilt, and many others (Miceli, Rosis, & Poggi, 2006). Plant-based documentaries contain messages that promote the health benefits one can achieve by adopting a plant-based diet. How a viewer processes messages, in this case, a message of adopting a plant-based diet, requires an additional measure of insight. The need for cognition is a cognitive assessment measure that claims there are stable differences in an individual’s tendency to engage in and enjoy cognitive activities that require effortful thinking (Cacioppo, & Petty, 1982). The interest in these concepts is exploratory as to which approach is more favorable overall and whether someone’s need for cognition is a trait that activists or health communication professionals may want to align when presenting a message to influence someone to eat a healthier plant-based diet. This study will use two appeals and the need for cognition to evaluate which appeal is the most favorable and if people high in need for cognition rate the cognitive (rational) appeal more favorable in comparison to the affect (emotional) appeal. The shift in thinking about matters of diet is based on environmental and health implications, and when a person decides to drastically alter their diet by refusing to eat meat, it is usually due to one or more of three paths (Arora et al., 2017). Background Three Plant-Based Paths Research on vegetarianism