title: Change Your Ways: Fostering Health Attitudes Toward Change Through Selective Exposure to Online Health Messages.
abstract: Health information is often sought online, despite varying credibility of online sources, and may shape health behaviors. This investigation builds on the Selective Exposure Self- and Affect-Management model to examine selective exposure to online health information from low- and high-credibility sources and subsequent effects on attitudes toward health behaviors. In a lab study, 419 participants accessed online search results about health topics. The display varied messages in a 4 × 2 × 2 all within-subjects design, with topic as a four-step factor (organic food, coffee, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical exercise) and source credibility (low vs. high) and issue stance (promoting vs. opposing health behavior) as two-step factors. Displayed messages either promoted or opposed the related behavior. Results showed that perceiving greater standard-behavior discrepancy (between recommended behavior standards and own behavior) fostered behavior-related attitudes through selective exposure to messages promoting that behavior. The effects from selective exposure to health messages on attitudes occurred regardless of associated source credibility.
authors.affiliation: a School of Communication , Ohio State University.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Westerwick
authors.affiliation: b Department of Communication Science , Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
authors.forename: Benjamin K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: a School of Communication , Ohio State University.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knobloch-Westerwick
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult