Using a Nutritional Message to Test Women’s Greater Sensitivity than Men’s to Negative Visual Framing and Related Hypotheses

In the present study we address contradictions in the literature about the effectiveness of visual frames of positive versus negative valence to generate compliance with a health message and test whether women are more sensitive to negative frames than men and whether health personnel adhere more to negatively framed recommendations while the general public adheres more to positive messages. Method. We designed a between-subject factorial experiment in which the photo of a coffin or a smiling family was included in a poster along with text on the risk of severe COVID-19 and the vitamins and minerals that can reduce it. One text addressed the risk of obesity and the other that of all the known comorbidities. The posters were virtually shown to hospital personnel and university students in Lima, Peru individually. Results. Whereas all the results were non-significant in the global sample, negative visual frame caused intentions to adhere among women but not among men. On the other hand, hospital personnel presented higher scores on intention to adhere than university students, but their reactions to the visual frames were contrary to expectations. Conclusions. Gender differences in Neuroticism which suggested our main hypothesis appear to explain the confirmatory results.<br>