The goal of this study is to examine anti-obesity ads in order to understand if they are unconsciously raising participant’s mortality salience.

Abstract

Obesity in America has gained much attention as related

conditions increase per year. The Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention stated that in 2013, obesity had

become a leading cause of preventable death in the US,

comparable to cigarette smoking.

More than 35% of America’s adults are obese, while 17% of

America’s children from ages 2–19 also struggle with obesity.

MORTALITY SALIENCE INDUCED BY ANTI-OBESITY PSAsby Nicole Anderson, BAanden091@newschool.edu / The New School for Social Research

Previous research touches on the e�ects of mortality

salience and various bad habits, such as smoking, however

no studies have looked at obesity. The goal of this study is

to examine anti-obesity ads in order to understand if they

are unconsciously raising participant’s mortality salience.

For this study, it is hypothesized that viewing anti-obesity

PSAs will heighten participant’s levels of mortality salience.

Participants who viewed the anti-obesity PSAs before taking the DTA measure had significantly heightened levels of mortality salience, as opposed to the control group.

DTA SCORES: A preliminary T-Test revealed the

primary di�erences between the mortality salience

and control group, M = 3.42, SD = .653; M = 1.04,

SD = .698, respectively. To test the hypothesis, an

independent samples test was conducted, which

revealed significant di�erences between the

mortality salience and the control condition;

t(179) = 23.67. p < .001.

181 106 Male

75 Female

PARTICIPANTS RESULTSMETHOD

Participants

GROUP STATISTICS

INDEPENDENT SAMPLE TEST

Age Range 16-29Median 30.93Standard Deviation 9.75Language English

Anti-obesity PSAs in magazines, TVs, and cities

seem to integrate death as a persuasive maneuver.

Having either implicit or explicit death cues could

activate individual's sense of death, thus

heightening mortality salience. This comes at a

cost. The anxiety provoked by these PSAs could

have a boomerang e�ect, causing individuals low

in self-esteem to move away from exercise and

consume unhealthy foods and/or drinks to

relieve anxiety. It is imperative to understand the

possible consequences of these PSAs, as they are

targeting a low self-esteem, overweight group.

Future research should explore eating habits after

mortality salience induction.

IMPLICATIONS

Experimental

Demographics Form

Death-thought Accessibility (DTA) Measure

Anti-Obesity PSAs

Short Passage

Control

Demographics Form

Death-thought Accessibility (DTA) Measure

Short Passage

Neutral PSAs

Participants were recruited via Mechanical

Turk to take the online survey on Qualtrics.

Participants filled out an informed consent

and were asked to verify if they spoke English.

Each participant was then randomly assigned

to an experimental or control group.

Participants in the experimental group were

shown and asked to carefully examine four

“anti-obesity” NYC PSAs, which targeted

potential fatal consequences of consuming

unhealthy drinks and snacks.

Participants in the control group were shown

and asked to examine four neutral PSAs.

These images had little to no emotional

content, resulting in no manipulation of

participant's mood

or thoughts.

Participants in both groups were directed to

read a short passage followed by questions

confirming they read the passage. The

passage and questions served as a delay and

distraction, as previous research indicates that

mortality salience e�ects emerge more

clearly over time.

Participants were then asked to complete a

Death-thought Accessibility (DTA) measure

known as the Sample Word Completion Task

by filling in the missing letters to make a

complete word. The responses were coded

into death or non-death words. Filling in more

death words implies higher levels of mortality

salience activation. Participants filled out a

demographics form. All responses were

recorded online.

2

1

3

4

562% Caucasian24% Asian/Asian-American7% African-American4% Hispanic / Latino3% Other

Manipulation vs. Control

DTA Score

Manipulation

Control

90

91

3.4222

1.0440

.65304

.69781

.06884

.07315

Mean Std.Deviation

Std. ErrorMean

N

Levene’s Test for Equality of Variences t-test for Equality of Means

DTA Score

Equal variancesAssumed

Equal variances not assumed

90

91

.337 23.668

23.677

179

178.458

.000

.000

2.37827

2.37827

.10048

.10045

2.17998

2.18005

2.57655

2.57648

Sig. t df Sig.(2-tailed)

Mean Di�erence

Std. ErrorDi�erence Lower

95% Confidence Interval of the Di�erence

UpperF

New England Psychological Association (NEPA)- October 18, 2014

AbstractObesity in America has gained much attention as related conditions increase per year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that in 2013, obesity had become a leading cause of preventable death in the US, comparable to cigarette smoking.

More than 35% of America’s adults are obese, while 17% of America’s children from ages 2–19 also struggle with obesity.

Previous research touches on the e�ects of mortality salience and various bad habits, such as smoking, however no studies have looked at obesity. The goal of this study is to examine anti-obesity ads in order to understand if they are unconsciously raising participant’s mortality salience.

For this study, it is hypothesized that viewing anti-obesity PSAs will heighten participant’s levels of mortality salience.

MORTALITY SALIENCE INDUCED BY ANTI-OBESITY PSAsby Nicole Anderson, BAanden091@newschool.edu / The New School for Social Research

New England Psychological Association (NEPA) - October 18, 2014

181 106 Male

75 Female

PARTICIPANTS

Participants

Age Range 16-29Median 30.93Standard Deviation 9.75Language English

The goal of this study is to examine anti-obesity ads in order to understand if they are unconsciously raising participant’s mortality salience.

Experimental

Demographics Form

Death-thought Accessibility (DTA) Measure

Anti-Obesity PSAs

Short Passage

Control

Demographics Form

Death-thought Accessibility (DTA) Measure

Short Passage

Neutral PSAs

62% Caucasian24% Asian/Asian-American7% African-American4% Hispanic / Latino3% Other

Page 1 of 2Mortality Salience induced by Anti-Obesity PSAs by Nicole Anderson, BA. anden@newschool.edu

METHODParticipants who viewed the anti-obesity PSAs before taking the DTA measure had significantly heightened levels of mortality salience, as opposed to the control group.

DTA SCORES: A preliminary T-Test revealed the primary di�erences between the mortality salience and control group, M = 3.42, SD = .653; M = 1.04, SD = .698, respectively. To test the hypothesis, an independent samples test was conducted, which revealed significant di�erences between the mortality salience and the control condition; t(179) = 23.67. p < .001.

RESULTS

Anti-obesity PSAs in magazines, TVs, and cities seem to integrate death as a persuasive maneuver. Having either implicit or explicit death cues could activate individual's sense of death, thus heightening mortality salience. This comes at a cost.

The anxiety provoked by these PSAs could have a boomerang e�ect, causing individuals low in self-esteem to move away from exercise and consume unhealthy foods and/or drinks to relieve anxiety. It is imperative to understand the possible consequences of these PSAs, as they are targeting a low self-esteem, overweight group. Future research should explore eating habits after mortality salience induction.

IMPLICATIONS

Participants were recruited via Mechanical Turk to take the online survey on Qualtrics.

Participants filled out an informed consent and were asked to verify if they spoke English. Each participant was then randomly assigned to an experimental or control group.

Participants in the experimental group were shown and asked to carefully examine four “anti-obesity” NYC PSAs, which targeted potential fatal consequences of consuming unhealthy drinks and snacks.

Participants in the control group were shown and asked to examine four neutral PSAs. These images had little to no emotional content, resulting in no manipulation of participant's mood or thoughts.

Participants in both groups were directed to read a short passage followed by questions confirming they read the passage. The passage and questions served as a delay and distraction, as previous research indicates that mortality salience e�ects emerge more clearly over time.

Participants were then asked to complete a Death-thought Accessibility (DTA) measure known as the Sample Word Completion Task by filling in the missing letters to make a complete word. The responses were coded into death or non-death words. Filling in more death words implies higher levels of mortality salience activation. Participants filled out a demographics form. All responses were recorded online.

2

1

3

4

5

GROUP STATISTICS

Manipulation vs. Control

DTA Score

Manipulation

Control

90

91

3.4222

1.0440

.65304

.69781

.06884

.07315

Mean Std.Deviation

Std. ErrorMean

N

INDEPENDENT SAMPLE TEST

Levene’s Test for Equality of Variences t-test for Equality of Means

DTA Score

Equal variancesAssumed

Equal variances not assumed

90

91

.337 23.668

23.677

179

178.458

.000

.000

2.37827

2.37827

.10048

.10045

2.17998

2.18005

2.57655

2.57648

Sig. t df Sig.(2-tailed)

Mean Di�erence

Std. ErrorDi�erence Lower

95% Confidence Interval of the Di�erence

UpperF

Page 2 of 2Mortality Salience induced by Anti-Obesity PSAs by Nicole Anderson, BA. anden@newschool.edu