Why are Health Persuasive Messages Not Always Effective?

In the framework of developing more effective persuasive messages in the domain of health, it is important to analyze what can go wrong: Why are persuasive messages not (always) effective? This chapter presents a theoretical analysis of this issue in two parts, using the Working Memory approach of Persuasion (WMaP) as the integrative theoretical framework. In the first part, the focus is on how persuasive messages fail to target the self-regulatory processes involved in persuasion. The core of the persuasive process is the meaning-giving of the persuasive information, which occurs in working memory on the basis of activated long-term memory contents. In the second part, the focus is on the purposeful inhibition of the persuasive process with defensive self-regulatory actions (DSAs). These also occur in working memory and manifest in different ways that undermine the development of lucid and emotional mental images around the persuasive information. DSAs are closely related to the recipient’s self, as shown by studies on self-affirmation and personalization. Using the WMaP, DSAs are studied now using a novel research paradigm in persuasion: induced eye movements that tax working memory.