Humanizing cancer: The role of anthropomorphism and perceived efficacy in melanoma prevention.

This study investigates how melanoma anthropomorphism (i.e., the attribution of humanlike qualities to melanoma) interacts with individual differences in perceived efficacy to influence attitudes and intentions to perform preventive health behaviors.

Increasing Social Support for Women via Humanizing Postpartum Depression.

Women experiencing postpartum depression (PPD) often face the debilitating symptoms of depression as well as the stigmatization associated with having a mental health crisis during motherhood. Accordingly, there have been numerous calls for theoretical-based approaches to reduce the stigma and promote social support for women with PPD. Guided by stigma research, anthropomorphism literature, and attribution theory, this research explored the effect of PPD anthropomorphism (i.

Engaging Audience on Social Media: The Persuasive Impact of Fit Between Humor and Regulatory Focus in Health Messages.

Drawing upon construal level theory and regulatory fit literature, this research examined the effect of fit between humor and regulatory focus on audience engagement with health information on social media. The results of two studies showed that incongruity humor (vs. aggressive humor) induced greater social proximity between the source and the viewer, and humor type interacted with regulatory focus of a message to impact audience engagement.

Creating persuasive health messages on social media: Effects of humor and perceived efficacy on health attitudes and intentions.

This study examined how humor (incongruity humor vs. no humor) interacts with individual differences in perceived efficacy to influence health attitudes and behavioral intentions. Results of a controlled experiment ( = 294) revealed that among individuals with lower levels of perceived efficacy, incongruity humor, relative to no humor condition, resulted in greater source liking, which in turn, enhanced their attitudes and intentions to perform preventive health behaviors.

Measuring Trivialization of Mental Illness: Developing a Scale of Perceptions that Mental Illness Symptoms are Beneficial.

Much of the extant research on representations of mental illness in the media have focused on stigmatization. The negative effects of these stigmatizing portrayals on individuals with mental illness are serious. However, recent scholarship has identified another phenomenon in the mediated portrayal of mental illness whereby these conditions are trivialized.

Examining Differences in Audience Recall and Reaction Between Mediated Portrayals of Mental Illness as Trivializing Versus Stigmatizing.

Researchers have documented the ways in which media stigmatize mental illness. However, media also portray mental illness trivially when diseases are mocked, oversimplified, shown to be less severe than in actuality, or represented as beneficial to an individual. Trivialization of mental illnesses could potentially lead audiences to be less likely to seek help or less likely to support related policy efforts.