Self-regulation of health communications: A motivated processing approach to risk perception and persuasion

Around the globe, millions of individuals die annually from causes that could have been prevented (World Health Organization, 2004). In our time and place, individuals are affected most often by health conditions resulting from their own behaviours, such as smoking, unhealthy diets, insufficient physical exercise, and unprotected sex (for an overview, see Stroebe, 2000). Thus, effective disease prevention and health promotion ultimately depend on the thoughtful promotion of effective self-regulation of health-related behaviours. Social and health psychologists contribute in important ways to health promotion, for instance by developing and testing theories to explain motivational processes and volitional strategies involved in the successful initiation and maintenance of health-related actions (for overviews see Cameron & Leventhal, 2003; De Ridder & De Wit, 2006).