The Influence of Behavioral Inhibition/Approach Systems and Message Framing on the Processing of Persuasive Health Messages

Two experiments examine the role of message framing and behavioral inhibition/ approach systems (BIS/BAS) on affect, cognition, attitude, and behavioral intention. The results show that advantage framing yields stronger positive emotions, whereas disadvantage framing produces stronger negative emotions. BIS and BAS show a complex pattern of associations with emotions that is not wholly consistent with either the approach—avoidance or valence aspects of affect. There is an interaction between BIS/BAS and message frame on persuasion such that BIS correlates positively with dominant cognitive response under disadvantage framing, but BAS does so under advantage framing. These findings are contextualized in process models (structural equation modeling) that include anger, fear, attitude, and behavioral intention.