Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Use of plain language: linguistic fluency <s> It is estimated that 1 out of 5 American adults lacks the literacy skills needed to function effectively in todays society and as patients they present a challenge to health instruction. This book provides teaching strategies to aid in making self-help and self-management a reality for the patient with low literacy skills. The magnitude of the problem is explored and myths about illiteracy are exemplified. Two chapters deal with comprehension of written materials from theory to practical proven testing techniques including the cloze technique and the word-recognition test. Another chapter offers 2 formulas for testing the readability of written materials: the SMOG formula and the Fry index. Once a problem is identified a 4-step teaching strategy gives tips on teaching the low-literacy patient. For those pamphlets and booklets commonly given to patients suggestions for writing and rewriting to simplify the text are given along with examples of comprehension level. The use of audiotapes for teaching is explored in depth for those who learn better by listening. A chapter on the use of visuals stresses simplification to reduce the amount of text reading to emphasize instruction and to motivate and appropriate examples are given. Where written material audiotapes and visuals are drafted and produced according to the guidelines in the book the last chapter is devoted to pretesting to determine whether intended concepts are coming through. It defines the components of pretesting describes procedures discusses possible stages for production and provides examples of results. Although the book is aimed at providing teaching methods for the low-literate patient the suggestions also apply to the learning disabled. <s> BIB001 </s> Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Use of plain language: linguistic fluency <s> Three experiments investigated the effects of syntactic complexity on the persuasiveness of advertising. Experiment 1 showed that, in a broadcast advertising context, syntactic complexity affects recall and recognition but not the persuasiveness of the advertising. However, Experiment 2 indicated that, in a print context, persuasiveness of an advertisement is affected by syntactic complexity. Finally, Experiment 3 demonstrated that motivation to process information interacts with syntactic complexity to determine the persuasiveness of print advertising. These results imply that the impact of syntactic complexity on advertising effectiveness is more complicated than previously thought. <s> BIB002 </s> Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Use of plain language: linguistic fluency <s> Public health materials are often designed to inform and rally the public to spur action and maintain vigilance on important issues to family, work, community, and public policy. Limited access to public health information certainly curtails knowledge and awareness but may also hamper action and civic involvement. A growth in published assessments of health materials indicates an increased interest in the mismatch between the reading level of most health materials and the reading ability of the average adult. However, while several guidebooks offer suggestions for developing new materials, little attention has been given to the process of rewriting materials and grappling with bureaucratic language. We describe, in this case study, a process we used to assess and then rewrite a federally mandated report to consumers about the quality of their water. <s> BIB003 </s> Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Use of plain language: linguistic fluency <s> Most texts on writing style encourage authors to avoid overly-complex words. However, a majority of undergraduates admit to deliberately increasing the complexity of their vocabulary so as to give the impression of intelligence. This paper explores the extent to which this strategy is effective. Experiments 1–3 manipulate complexity of texts and find a negative relationship between complexity and judged intelligence. This relationship held regardless of the quality of the original essay, and irrespective of the participants' prior expectations of essay quality. The negative impact of complexity was mediated by processing fluency. Experiment 4 directly manipulated fluency and found that texts in hard to read fonts are judged to come from less intelligent authors. Experiment 5 investigated discounting of fluency. When obvious causes for low fluency exist that are not relevant to the judgement at hand, people reduce their reliance on fluency as a cue; in fact, in an effort not to be influenced by the irrelevant source of fluency, they over-compensate and are biased in the opposite direction. Implications and applications are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. <s> BIB004 </s> Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Use of plain language: linguistic fluency <s> Names are rich sources of information. They can signal gender, ethnicity, or class; they may connote personality characteristics ranging from warmth and cheerfulness to morality. But names also differ in a much more fundamental way: some are simply easier to pronounce than others. Five studies provide evidence for the name-pronunciation effect: easy-to-pronounce names (and their bearers) are judged more positively than difficult-to-pronounce names. Studies 1–3 demonstrate that people form more positive impressions of easy-to-pronounce names than of difficult-to-pronounce names. Study 4 finds this effect generalizable to ingroup targets. Study 5 highlights an important real-world implication of the name-pronunciation effect: people with easier-to-pronounce surnames occupy higher status positions in law firms. These effects obtain independent of name length, unusualness, typicality, foreignness, and orthographic regularity. This work demonstrates the potency of processing fluency in the information rich context of impression formation. <s> BIB005 </s> Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Use of plain language: linguistic fluency <s> The SEC's emphasis on the use of plain English is designed to make disclosures more readable and more informative. Using an experiment, I find that more readable disclosures lead to stronger reactions from small investors, so that changes in valuation judgments are more positive when news is good and more negative when news is bad. Drawing on research in psychology to explain this result, I predict and find that processing fluency from a more readable disclosure acts as a subconscious heuristic cue and increases investors’ beliefs that they can rely on the disclosure. Although I do not find that more readable disclosures directly increase perceptions of management credibility, I do find evidence of an indirect effect operating through feelings of processing fluency. In supplemental analyses, I find that investors who receive more readable disclosures revise their valuation judgments to be less extreme when they are explicitly made aware of the potential for variation in readability. I discuss potential explanations for these revised valuation judgments. <s> BIB006 </s> Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Use of plain language: linguistic fluency <s> Theory-Based Message Design From Psychological Theory to Message Design: Lessons From the Story of Gain-Framed and Loss-Framed Persuasive Messages - Daniel O'Keefe The Integrated Model of Behavioral Prediction as a Tool for Designing Health Messages - Marco Yzer Health Risk Message Design Using the Extended Parallel Process Model - Michael Basil, Kim Witte Using Emotional Appeals in Health Messages - Monique Mitchell Turner Designing Inoculation Messages for Health Communication Campaigns - Bobi Ivanov Using Narratives to Promote Health: A Culture-Centric Approach - Linda Larkey, Amy Hill Audience-Centered Message Design The Cultural Variance Framework for Tailoriing Health Messages - Rachel Davis, Ken Resnicow The Communication Theory of Identity as a Framework for Health Message Design - Michael Hecht, HyeJeong Choi Religiosity, Spirituality and the Design of Health Communication Messages and Interventions - Cheryl Holt Addressing Health literacy in the Design of Health Messages - Jakob D. Jensen Addressing Fatalism with Health Communication Messages - Lijiang Shen, Celeste Condit Deigning Messages for Individuals in Different Stages of Change - Seth Noar, Stephanie Van Stee Designing High Message Sensation Value Messages for the Sensation Seeking Audience - Susan Morgan <s> BIB007 </s> Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Use of plain language: linguistic fluency <s> Abstract Objective To assess the extent to which the title and font of participant information sheets (PISs) can influence pregnant women's and trainee midwives’ perceptions of an antenatal intervention. Methods Pregnant women ( n = 35) and trainee midwives ( n = 36) were randomly presented with one of four PISs where the title and font of the PIS had been manipulated to create four experimental conditions (i.e., Double Fluent ; Double Awkward ; Fluent Title-Awkward Font ; Awkward Title-Fluent Font ). After reading the PIS, participants rated their perceptions of the intervention (i.e., Attractiveness, Complexity, Expected Risk, Required Effort) using five-point Likert scales. Results A 4 × 2 factorial multivariate analysis of variance revealed that pregnant women rated the Double Awkward condition as significantly more complex than the Double Fluent ( p = .024) and Awkward Title-Fluent Font ( p = .021) conditions. Conclusion Font influenced pregnant women's ratings of intervention complexity. Practice implications Results have implications for ethical recruitment, and in turn, the optimisation of corresponding interventions. <s> BIB008 </s> Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Use of plain language: linguistic fluency <s> ABSTRACT: We conduct two experiments to investigate how readability (high versus low) and benchmark performance consistency (consistent versus inconsistent) influence investors' judgments. Using prior management guidance and year-ago quarter performance as two benchmarks against which to assess actual earnings performance, we manipulate whether the valence of guidance performance (positive or negative) and the valence of trend performance (positive or negative) are consistent with each other. We also manipulate the readability of trend performance in our main experiment. Our results show that when benchmark performance is inconsistent, higher as opposed to lower readability of positive (negative) trend performance leads to more (less) favorable investors' performance judgments. This effect of readability is smaller when benchmark performance is consistent. We also show that higher readability in the inconsistent benchmark performance condition improves investors' understanding of the firm's current-quart... <s> BIB009
Without exception, assessment tools and guidelines for health materials emphasis the importance of plain language; i.e., using common and familiar words, short sentences, and explicit sentence constructions, so that readers can process the information more easily and quickly BIB001 BIB003    . As shown in the "Results" section, phonologically fluent (i.e., easy to pronounce) words generate favorable evaluations BIB005  BIB008 . Furthermore, highly readable materials that are written with plain language generate more favorable evaluations, greater trust and stronger reactions BIB004 BIB002  BIB006 BIB009 . Although these PF studies were in contexts other than health, health materials also should generate favorable evaluations and trust, as well as strong reactions from their recipients, especially in emotional appeals BIB007 . Favorableness, trust and strong reaction are sources of persuasiveness  . Using plain language that is linguistically fluently processed is considered to be important not only for making written health materials comprehensible but also for enhancing persuasiveness of those materials.