Schema-derived persuasion and perception of AIDS risk

Schema correspondence theory (Brannon & Brock, 1994) states that messages that reflect recipients' self-schemas will be more persuasive than non-matching messages. Two experiments demonstrated that matching public health messages to the self-schematic preferences of message recipients can increase the impact of AIDS prevention messages. Evidence from both experiments suggested that the matching effect was due to increased message processing of self-schema matching messages. In Study 1, the matching effect was greater for low need-for-cognition participants (indicating increased thinking in response to matching). In Study 2, participant listed significantly more thoughts in response to self-schema matching, as opposed to non-matching, messages.