Regulatory focus and drinking behavior: decreasing the intention to drink and drive

Abstract

hao and Pechmann (2007) used regulatory focus theory and message framing, to find an average 14.4% increase in the intention not to smoke when the campaign was consistent with the profile of individuals. In this article, we expand that study to apply regulatory focus theory to campaigns against alcohol consumption. We suggest that the intention to drink and drive and the intention to convince friends not to drink and drive are determined by emotion (guilt vs. shame), message framing (positive vs. negative framing), and individual interdependence (me vs. others affected). In the first experiment, we found that not only does regulatory focus moderate the relationship between drinking and persuading friends not to drink and drive, but message framing also has an impact. In the second experiment, we found that emotion and individual interdependence has an effect on the habit of drinking alcohol and affects both dependent variables.