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Short communication: visualizing actions from a third-person perspective: effects on health behavior and the moderating role of behavior difficulty

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posted on 2023-06-09, 02:04 authored by Laura J Rennie, Pete HarrisPete Harris, Thomas L Webb
Visualizing behavior from a third-person (vs. first-person) perspective can produce stronger motivation to enact the behavior. However, the effects of perspective on health behaviors have been mixed. Hypothesizing that the difficulty of the visualized behavior might moderate the effect of perspective, two experiments manipulated the difficulty of the visualized behaviors (fruit/vegetable consumption; exercise) plus perspective and subsequently measured motivation (Experiments 1 and 2) and behavior (Experiment 2). In both experiments, the third-person perspective produced stronger motivation to perform the easier, but not the more difficult, behavior. This effect extended to behavior in Experiment 2. Under certain conditions, encouraging people to visualize behavior from a third-person perspective could represent a useful and cost-effective means of promoting health behavior change.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Journal of Applied Social Psychology

ISSN

0021-9029

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

12

Volume

46

Page range

724-731

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-07-08

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-09-26

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-07-08

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