Construal level as a moderator of the role of affective and cognitive attitudes in the prediction of health-risk behavioural intentions

Abstract

In two preliminary control checks it was shown that affective attitudes presented greaterabstraction than cognitive attitudes. Three further studies explored how construal levelmoderated the role of affective and cognitive attitudes in predicting one health-promoting behaviour (exercising) and two risk behaviours (sleep debt and binge drinking). There was astronger influence of affective attitudes both when participants were in abstract (vs.concrete) mindsets induced by a priming task in Studies 1a and 1b, and when behaviouralintentions were formed for the distant (vs. near) future in Study 2. In the case of concretemindsets, the results were inconclusive; the interaction between construal level andcognitive attitudes was only marginally significant in Study 1b. The present researchsupports the assertion that in abstract mindsets (vs. concrete mindsets) people use moreaffective attitudes to construe their behavioural intentions. Practical implications forhealth promotion are discussed in the framework of construal-level theory