Buying Local: The Cognitive Effects of Environmental Messaging
Open Access
Author:
Dames, Valerie Jean
Area of Honors:
Advertising/Public Relations
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Dr. Lee Ahern, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Lee Ahern, Thesis Supervisor Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Susan Mary Strohm, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Environmental Communication Framing BIS/BAS
Abstract:
There is currently a lot of environmental messaging being presented through
advertisements and public service announcements, but there is no clear indication about what
type of message is the most effective. This study examines 2 different framing techniques,
gain/loss and episodic/thematic and their effect on the reception and persuasiveness of an
environmental message. An experiment was conducted to answer these questions and results
indicated that both a loss frame message as well as an episodic frame message caused the
recipients to report a higher level of perceived behavioral control. These findings suggest that
more research needs to be done in the area of environmental messaging to explore these
relationships further.
