Stage-emotion compatibility and the effectiveness of antismoking campaigns in South Korea: tailoring guilt and shame appeals to individuals in different stages of change

Abstract

In many domains of health risk prevention and management, tailoring messages specifically for different stages of change is critical. In the context of smoking cessation, this research represents an initial attempt to discover stage-specific affective profiles in terms of guilt versus shame. It then examines whether stage-congruent emotional appeals increase the persuasiveness of antismoking campaigns. Study 1 found that participants felt more negative self-conscious emotions as they entered the later stages of smoking cessation, showing more salient emotional states of guilt rather than shame. Study 2 found that stage emotion compatibility, such as that exhibited by participants in the early stages of change, was not altered by emotional appeals regardless of the emotional type. In contrast, those in the later stages of change perceived guilt rather than shame appeals to be more effective and displayed greater smoking cessation intention. Through this, current research takes an important step toward theoretically identifying the affective states associated with different stages of change for smoking cessation and helps practitioners use emotional appeals effectively and appropriately in public health campaigns.