Toward the science of message design approach [emotional appeals version]: The combined effects of anticipated pride appeals and descriptive norm information embedded in messages on behavioral intentions

The current study replicated prior research by creating anticipated pride appeals and embedding the appeals into standard descriptive norms messages to explicate the mixed findings in prior research. In an online experiment, adults in the U.S. (N = 277) were recruited via an online panel. Participants viewed two-similar messages including either descriptive norm information only or both anticipated pride appeals and descriptive norm information. Results indicated that exposure to emotional descriptive norm messages influenced intentions via eliciting the desired emotional response to the messages, which is consistent with findings in prior research.

Automated summary

The current study replicated prior research to clarify the mixed findings by creating anticipated pride appeals and embedding them into standard descriptive norms messages. In an online experiment, U.S. adults were recruited and exposed to two similar messages. The results showed that exposure to emotional descriptive norm messages influenced intentions by eliciting the desired emotional response, consistent with prior research findings.