Health Psychology – Dijkstra (lecture 6) 1
Working mechanisms of computer-tailored health education: evidence from
smoking cessation
during the last 10 years, many studies have been conducted to show the superiority of
tailored materials over standard materials
however, only few studies tailored with similar non-tailored materials → only such studies
show if tailoring of information is fundamental step forward in persuasion
◦ studies showed mixed results
to further develop tailored materials working mechanisms must be identifies which might be
responsible for superior efficacy of tailored materials
◦ can be understood form at least 2 angles
1. working mechanisms are characteristics of the information that is communicated
2. these characteristics are considered to lead to cognitive changes because target
specific psychological factors
tailored information differs from feedback (e.g. message tailored to socioeconomic status,
but seemed to be written for general audience → more effective than non-tailored
equivalent)
stronger attention process when confronted with tailored information
present study focuses on superior effect of tailored messaged form 2 perspectives:
1. characteristics of the tailored information
2. psychological processes involved
in tailored communication 3 potential working mechanisms are distinguished:
1. personalization: incorporate recognizable aspects of person in general text → e.g. first
name; brand person smokes
2. adaption: adaption of content of text itself (e.g. sociodemographic characteristics or
persons intention to change) → become more relevant
3. feedback: provision of information about person’s state about which the person
him/herself may not been (fully) aware (e.g. psychological denial person engages in)
explain effect of tailoring: Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) → personal relevant
information is processed with more thoughtful consideration
◦ ELM is about the relevance of a text, not about how personally relevant cues lead a
general text to become more personally relevant
“self-referent encoding” used in present study to explains how reading a general text with
only some personal cues in it can lead to more psychological changes than a general text
without these cues
◦ working mechanisms are thought to induce process of self-referent encoding
◦ self-referent encoding refers to the interpretation and coding of external information
against the background of the self
◦ comprises deeper and richer processing of information and information is more actively
compared with person’s own previous experience
◦ enhance recall of offered information
◦ Personalization and feedback are thought to contain cues that trigger a process of self-
relevant encoding
Present Study
used self-report measure of self-referent encoding
hypothesize that the extent of self-referent encoding would mediate the effects of the
working mechanisms on cognitive and behavioral changes
Working mechanisms of computer-tailored health education: evidence from
smoking cessation
during the last 10 years, many studies have been conducted to show the superiority of
tailored materials over standard materials
however, only few studies tailored with similar non-tailored materials → only such studies
show if tailoring of information is fundamental step forward in persuasion
◦ studies showed mixed results
to further develop tailored materials working mechanisms must be identifies which might be
responsible for superior efficacy of tailored materials
◦ can be understood form at least 2 angles
1. working mechanisms are characteristics of the information that is communicated
2. these characteristics are considered to lead to cognitive changes because target
specific psychological factors
tailored information differs from feedback (e.g. message tailored to socioeconomic status,
but seemed to be written for general audience → more effective than non-tailored
equivalent)
stronger attention process when confronted with tailored information
present study focuses on superior effect of tailored messaged form 2 perspectives:
1. characteristics of the tailored information
2. psychological processes involved
in tailored communication 3 potential working mechanisms are distinguished:
1. personalization: incorporate recognizable aspects of person in general text → e.g. first
name; brand person smokes
2. adaption: adaption of content of text itself (e.g. sociodemographic characteristics or
persons intention to change) → become more relevant
3. feedback: provision of information about person’s state about which the person
him/herself may not been (fully) aware (e.g. psychological denial person engages in)
explain effect of tailoring: Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) → personal relevant
information is processed with more thoughtful consideration
◦ ELM is about the relevance of a text, not about how personally relevant cues lead a
general text to become more personally relevant
“self-referent encoding” used in present study to explains how reading a general text with
only some personal cues in it can lead to more psychological changes than a general text
without these cues
◦ working mechanisms are thought to induce process of self-referent encoding
◦ self-referent encoding refers to the interpretation and coding of external information
against the background of the self
◦ comprises deeper and richer processing of information and information is more actively
compared with person’s own previous experience
◦ enhance recall of offered information
◦ Personalization and feedback are thought to contain cues that trigger a process of self-
relevant encoding
Present Study
used self-report measure of self-referent encoding
hypothesize that the extent of self-referent encoding would mediate the effects of the
working mechanisms on cognitive and behavioral changes
