What works best: Objective statistics or a personal testimonial? An assessment of the persuasive effects of different types of message evidence on risk perception.

Abstract

As predicted, perceptions of personal risk and intention to obtain vaccination against HBV were highest after presentation of narrative evidence, and risk perception mediated the effect of type of message evidence on intention. We propose that narrative evidence effectively promotes a sense of personal risk because it is less affected by defensive message processing resulting from the threat to important self-beliefs that seems inherent in health risk communication.