Emotion, Motivation, and the Persuasive Effects of Message Framing

This study explored the effects of premessage emotions (happiness, anger, and fear) and chronic levels of motivational system activation (behavioral approach system: BAS, and behavioral inhibition system: BIS) on the processing of gain- and loss-framed persuasive messages. The data showed that emotion functions (approach and avoidance), not valences (positive and negative), predicted emotions' interactions with motivational systems and framed messages. While fear was associated with BIS, happiness and anger were linked to BAS. Also, while a loss frame was more persuasive among fearful individuals, a gain frame produced more persuasion for happy and angry participants. BAS mediated persuasion when angry and happy participants read a gain frame; BIS mediated persuasion among fearful individuals who attended to a loss frame.