Interactive effects of dispositional empathic concern and message framing on international relief campaigns

We investigated the interactive effects of dispositional empathic concern (DEC), which occurs when a person feels emotional concern about others in need, and message framing (gain vs. loss), which is used to persuade people to engage in helping behavior, on international relief campaigns. Participants were 161 university students who completed measures of DEC, issue involvement, and their previously held attitude toward international relief activities at the first stage. After 7–10 days they read a stimulus framing message focused on international relief campaigns against child hunger, and then rated message attitudes, intention to support children in need, and perceived manipulation intent. Results showed that there was an interaction effect between DEC and framing on responses to messages advocating international relief activities. Further, this interaction was mainly the result of gain, rather than loss, framing, with more favorable responses elicited from individuals with greater DEC.