Negative affective consequences of thinking about disease detection behaviors.
It was proposed that thinking about disease-detection behavior would lead to more negative moods than thinking about health-promotion behavior. Detection behaviors produce more negative moods because they can threaten perceptions of good health. In a laboratory study, the initial mood states of 121 participants recruited from undergraduates and the general community were measured using a neutral-words rating procedure. Then participants were randomly assigned to think about performing a disease-detection behavior or a health-promotion behavior. Subsequently, they wrote down their responses to the behavior and evaluated these as either positive, negative, or neutral. Finally, the participant's mood was remeasured using both a neutral words-rating procedure and a more traditional bipolar rating measure. Results indicated that thought about disease-detection behavior produced more negative affective responses and more negative mood change than did thought about health-promotion behavior.
Millar
M G
MG
Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas 89154-5030, USA.
Millar
K
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D013850:Thinking