Positivity Helps the Medicine Go Down: Leveraging Framing and Affective Contexts to Enhance the Likelihood to Take Medications

• Published in: Emotion (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2021-08, Vol.21 (5), p.1062-1073
• Main Authors: Minton, Alyssa R., Young, Nathaniel A., Nievera, Madeline A., Mikels, Joseph A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Affective Valence; Decision Making; Drug Therapy; Emotions; Female; Human; Humans; Judgment; Male; Negative Emotions; Probability; Risk Perception; Treatment Compliance
• ISSN: 1528-3542; 1931-1516
• DOI: 10.1037/emo0000798

Affect can influence judgments and decision-making in multiple ways. One way is through (a) integral affect, or affect related to the choice at hand, and another way is through (b) incidental affect, or affect unrelated to the choice at hand. Research suggests integral affect influences risk-related decision-making, especially in the context of risky choice framing. However, the role of affect in other forms of framing (e.g., attribute framing) has received little attention. We examined how integral affect (Study 1) along with incidental affect (Study 2) can alter perceptions of risk and likelihood to take hypothetical medications. Participants read pamphlets about medications with unique side effects presented as a gain (e.g., 86% of people who took this medication did not experience nausea) or loss (e.g., 14% of people who took this medication did experience nausea). Study 2 extended Study 1 by manipulating incidental affect through positive, neutral, and negative affective contexts to examine its impact on subsequent evaluations of framed information. Studies 1 and 2 measured positive and negative feelings about medications, risk perceptions, and likelihood of taking medications. Across both studies, gain-framed attributes led to more positive integral affect, subsequently increasing likelihood to take medications, whereas loss-framed attributes led to more negative feelings and increased perceived riskiness of medications. Study 2 found that positive affective contexts indirectly led to an increased likelihood to take medication by increasing positive feelings about the medications. Taken together, leveraging positivity through gain frames and positive contexts could improve adherence to medication plans.