{"id":{"repo_id":"cornell","oai_identifier":"oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/2286"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cornell/oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/2286","repository":{"repo_id":"cornell","name":"Cornell University","base_url":"https://ecommons.cornell.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"AMBIGUITY AND ANXIETY IN THE PROCESSING OF HEALTH RISK MESSAGES","abstract":"This study looks at the effects of manipulating the ambiguity of health risk messages on worry and perceived susceptibility. In view of literature that indicates robust emotion-congruent effects of anxiety on the interpretation of ambiguous information, a procedure was used to manipulate levels of state-anxiety for a treatment group. Fifty-two participants completed an experimental task involving the reading of six health risk messages on different topics. Each message was followed by a short questionnaire to assess levels of worry, risk perception and attributional confidence. In addition, the participant?s familiarity with the message as well as his/her risk profile for the particular health risk in the message was assessed to provide context for their response to the messages. The experiment followed a 2 (within-group variables, ambiguous vs. unambiguous) x 2 design (between-group variables, state-anxiety induction vs. control group). It was hypothesized that anxious readers would report higher worry than non-anxious readers, and that worry would be higher for disambiguated messages. Results indicated partial support. A significant interaction effect was found between state-anxiety induction and ambiguity, such that high state-anxious readers reported higher worry than non-anxious readers, for unambiguous messages only. It was also hypothesized that risk profile information would predict worry. This hypothesis was supported.","abstract_html":"This study looks at the effects of manipulating the ambiguity of health risk messages on worry and perceived susceptibility. In view of literature that indicates robust emotion-congruent effects of anxiety on the interpretation of ambiguous information, a procedure was used to manipulate levels of state-anxiety for a treatment group. Fifty-two participants completed an experimental task involving the reading of six health risk messages on different topics. Each message was followed by a short questionnaire to assess levels of worry, risk perception and attributional confidence. In addition, the participant?s familiarity with the message as well as his/her risk profile for the particular health risk in the message was assessed to provide context for their response to the messages. The experiment followed a 2 (within-group variables, ambiguous vs. unambiguous) x 2 design (between-group variables, state-anxiety induction vs. control group). It was hypothesized that anxious readers would report higher worry than non-anxious readers, and that worry would be higher for disambiguated messages. Results indicated partial support. A significant interaction effect was found between state-anxiety induction and ambiguity, such that high state-anxious readers reported higher worry than non-anxious readers, for unambiguous messages only. It was also hypothesized that risk profile information would predict worry. This hypothesis was supported.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Issar, Sukriti"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2005,"date_issued":"2005-10-28T18:38:32Z","date_published":"2005-10-28T18:38:32Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:49:00Z","subjects":["ambiguity","anxiety","worry","health risk messages"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1813/2286","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Issar, Sukriti"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2005-10-28T18:38:32Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2005-10-28T18:38:32Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2005-10-28T18:38:32Z"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["dissertation or thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ambiguity","anxiety","worry","health risk messages"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1813/2286"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This study looks at the effects of manipulating the ambiguity of health risk messages on worry and perceived susceptibility. In view of literature that indicates robust emotion-congruent effects of anxiety on the interpretation of ambiguous information, a procedure was used to manipulate levels of state-anxiety for a treatment group. Fifty-two participants completed an experimental task involving the reading of six health risk messages on different topics. Each message was followed by a short questionnaire to assess levels of worry, risk perception and attributional confidence. In addition, the participant?s familiarity with the message as well as his/her risk profile for the particular health risk in the message was assessed to provide context for their response to the messages. The experiment followed a 2 (within-group variables, ambiguous vs. unambiguous) x 2 design (between-group variables, state-anxiety induction vs. control group). It was hypothesized that anxious readers would report higher worry than non-anxious readers, and that worry would be higher for disambiguated messages. Results indicated partial support. A significant interaction effect was found between state-anxiety induction and ambiguity, such that high state-anxious readers reported higher worry than non-anxious readers, for unambiguous messages only. It was also hypothesized that risk profile information would predict worry. This hypothesis was supported."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["AMBIGUITY AND ANXIETY IN THE PROCESSING OF HEALTH RISK MESSAGES"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Issar, Sukriti"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2005-10-28T18:38:32Z"],"dc:date.available":["2005-10-28T18:38:32Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2005-10-28T18:38:32Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This study looks at the effects of manipulating the ambiguity of health risk messages on worry and perceived susceptibility. In view of literature that indicates robust emotion-congruent effects of anxiety on the interpretation of ambiguous information, a procedure was used to manipulate levels of state-anxiety for a treatment group. Fifty-two participants completed an experimental task involving the reading of six health risk messages on different topics. Each message was followed by a short questionnaire to assess levels of worry, risk perception and attributional confidence. In addition, the participant?s familiarity with the message as well as his/her risk profile for the particular health risk in the message was assessed to provide context for their response to the messages. The experiment followed a 2 (within-group variables, ambiguous vs. unambiguous) x 2 design (between-group variables, state-anxiety induction vs. control group). It was hypothesized that anxious readers would report higher worry than non-anxious readers, and that worry would be higher for disambiguated messages. Results indicated partial support. A significant interaction effect was found between state-anxiety induction and ambiguity, such that high state-anxious readers reported higher worry than non-anxious readers, for unambiguous messages only. It was also hypothesized that risk profile information would predict worry. This hypothesis was supported."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1813/2286"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:subject":["ambiguity","anxiety","worry","health risk messages"],"dc:title":["AMBIGUITY AND ANXIETY IN THE PROCESSING OF HEALTH RISK MESSAGES"],"dc:type":["dissertation or thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:49:00Z"}