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Does incentivising pill-taking 'crowd out' risk-information processing? Evidence from a web-based experiment.
Eleni Mantzari1, Florian Vogt2, Theresa M Marteau3
1Health Psychology Section, King's College London, London, UK.
Social Science & Medicine (1982)
|February 19, 2014
Summary
Financial incentives for health behaviors do not reduce risk processing. However, high incentives increase time spent on risk information, an effect diminished by cognitive load, suggesting careful information delivery is needed.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral economics
- Health psychology
- Decision science
Background:
- Financial incentives are increasingly used to promote health-related behaviors.
- Concerns exist that incentives may undermine individuals' processing of associated risks.
- Empirical evidence on this 'risk-processing' effect remains limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of financial incentives on risk information processing for health behaviors.
- To assess how cognitive capacity moderates the relationship between incentives and risk processing.
- To examine the effect of incentives on willingness to engage in a health behavior and time spent reviewing risk information.
Main Methods:
- A web-based experiment with 275 UK university staff and students.
- Participants were randomized to receive different financial compensation levels (£0, £25, £1000) for taking a fictitious pill.
- A cognitive load task (digit recall) was manipulated to assess moderation effects.
Main Results:
- Willingness to take the pill significantly increased with a £1000 incentive, but not with £25.
- Risk information processing (perceived risk, knowledge) was not affected by incentives.
- Time spent viewing risk information increased with incentive value when cognitive load was absent, but decreased under cognitive load.
Conclusions:
- Financial incentives do not appear to undermine risk information processing.
- Incentives may signal risk, but this effect is negated under cognitive load.
- Maximizing cognitive capacity is crucial when presenting information about incentivized health behaviors.
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