The effect of two videotaped persuasive messages on 7th grade science students' intentions to perform an AIDS-related laboratory behavior

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two systematically designed persuasive communications for changing 7th grade life science students' intentions toward becoming the laboratory partner of a classmate who has AIDS. The theoretical framework on which the research rested was an integration of three cognitive response paradigms: the theory of reasoned action, the theory of planned behavior, and the elaboration likelihood model. The study compared (a) the persuasiveness of arguments based on salient beliefs held by the message recipients with arguments based on traditional content-related facts pertinent to the message topic and (b) tested the interaction of both ability and motivation to process message arguments with retention of intentional change.;The study utilized a 3 x 2 x 2 factorial design, incorporating random assignment of intact classes to one of twelve treatment groups. Interest was focused on three experimental factors which also corresponded to the independent variables: Factor A was the type of construction used for each persuasive message; Factor B was the presence or absence of a mental focusing task; and Factor C was the subject's degree of prior knowledge concerning the transmission and prevention of AIDS. Subjects were 312 seventh grade science students drawn from three middle schools representing two school districts in the central Texas area.;An instrument designed to measure subjects' intentions as well as their attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control pertaining to the performance of the laboratory behavior in question was administered at pre, post, and delayed post intervals. Treatments consisted of the presentation of a videotaped communication either with or without the added instruction to imagine and then explain a hypothetical situation involving a personal encounter with AIDS.;Seven repeated measures ANCOVAs revealed a significant treatment effect for message on attitude and significant effects for message by degree of prior knowledge interactions on both intention and subjective norm. While both experimental messages were responsible for larger gains in attitude than was the placebo message, only those arguments based on salient beliefs were capable of maintaining such a change. Interaction of focusing task and degree of prior knowledge resulted in significant effects only on subjective norm, and no evidence was revealed to establish a consistent pattern of either factor over time.