Change Your Ways: Fostering Health Attitudes Toward Change Through Selective Exposure to Online Health Messages

Health information is often sought online, despite varying credibility of online sources, and may shape health behaviors. This investigation builds on the Selective Exposure Self- and Affect-Management model to examine selective exposure to online health information from low- and high-credibility sources and subsequent effects on attitudes toward health behaviors. In a lab study, 419 participants accessed online search results about health topics. The display varied messages in a 4 × 2 × 2 all within-subjects design, with topic as a four-step factor (organic food, coffee, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical exercise) and source credibility (low vs. high) and issue stance (promoting vs. opposing health behavior) as two-step factors. Displayed messages either promoted or opposed the related behavior. Results showed that perceiving greater standard-behavior discrepancy (between recommended behavior standards and own behavior) fostered behavior-related attitudes through selective exposure to messages promoting that behavior. The effects from selective exposure to health messages on attitudes occurred regardless of associated source credibility.