Elisabeth Bigsby

Biographic Data

ID4996342
NAMEElisabeth Bigsby
GIVEN NAMESElisabeth
FAMILY NAMEBigsby
SIGNATUREBIGSBY E
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
ORCID0000-0002-5808-1005
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS9
TOTAL CITATIONS7
WORKS AS AUTHOR9
WORKS AS EDITOR0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2010
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX2

  • Understanding Drivers and Effects of Real-Time Information Seeking on Meningitis Knowledge and Attitudes

    Open AccessJi Youn Ryu, Shelly R Hovick et al.ARTICLEHealth Communication2026

    This study took a lab-based approach to test both the drivers and effects of information seeking, in the context of meningitis. Participants (N = 107) answered a survey where they indicated their actual knowledge, perceived knowledge insufficiency (i.e. the gap between perceived and desired knowledge), and attitudes regarding meningitis. They were then given the opportunity to seek information online, and those who sought information (n = 83) ans…

  • The Role of Perceived Facework and Freedom Threat in Health Recommendation Responses

    L M Guntzviller, Elisabeth BigsbyARTICLEHealth Communication2026

    To better predict and explain behavioral intentions in response to health recommendations, especially those containing face-threatening language, we tested psychological reactance theory (PRT) and advice response theory (ART) mechanisms. We manipulated recommendations about preventative health behaviors (i.e. eating fruits and vegetables, exercising, or sleeping) to aggravate positive or negative face-threat or mitigate positive or negative face-…

  • Self- and Response Efficacy Information in Fear Appeals

    Open AccessElisabeth Bigsby, Dolores AlbarracinARTICLEJournal of Communication2022

    Fear appeals are designed to inspire intended and actual actions to avert a danger. Although prior meta-analyses report that the average effect of fear appeals is moderately positive, the role of efficacy information is not completely understood. Prior work and fear appeal theories have argued that the presence of both response and self-efficacy information improves fear appeal success but the individual impacts of each have not been properly est…

  • Health Messaging During a Pandemic

    Open AccessElisabeth Bigsby, Ethan MorrowARTICLEAmerican Behavioral Scientist2022References: 31

    Traditional approaches to public health messaging suggest successful COVID-19 messages should communicate about the health threat and present effective protective behaviors. However, as the pandemic continues, how individual factors affect audience responses to such messages needs to be explored. We surveyed 224 U.S. residents (equal distribution among age group, education level, and gender) in a 2 (health threat information: high versus low) × 2…

  • “Are You Clean?” Encouraging STI Communication in Casual Encounters through Narrative Messages in Romance Novels

    Open AccessKara Rader, Shelly R Hovick et al.ARTICLECommunication Studies2021

    Rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise among young women, and a key factor in STI prevention is partner communication about STIs. Because entertainment narratives are shown to positively influence behavior change, the current study examined whether exposure to a romance novel excerpt wherein successful STI communication was modeled (versus one without) was associated with increased STI communication intentions. Guided by …

  • Information Seeking Behaviors and Intentions in Response to Environmental Health Risk Messages

    Open AccessShelly R Hovick, Elisabeth Bigsby et al.ARTICLEHealth Communication2021

    This study tests the effects of environmental health risk messages on perceived risk, information needs and decisions to seek information, testing a reduced risk information seeking and processing model (R-RISP). Participants (N = 1,823) were randomized to one of three risk conditions (arsenic, bisphenol A [BPA] or volatile organic compounds [VOCs]) and one of the three message conditions (high threat, low threat or no message); participants in t…

  • A Comparison of Three Approaches for Measuring Negative Cognitions for Psychological Reactance

    Tobias Reynolds‐tylu, Elisabeth Bigsby et al.ARTICLECommunication Methods and Measures2020Cited by: 4References: 11

    Psychological reactance, routinely operationalized as a latent construct comprised of anger and negative cognitions, represents an aversive state following a threatened or eliminated freedom. The current study sought to extend the literature by comparing three distinct measures of negative cognitions: (a) trained coder (thought-listing), (b) participant coding (thought-listing), and (c) Likert scale. Participants (N = 540) were randomly assigned …

  • Exemplification theory

    Elisabeth Bigsby, Cabral A Bigman et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the International…2019

  • Behavioral Activation/Inhibition Systems and Emotions

    Lijiang Shen, Elisabeth BigsbyARTICLECommunication Monographs2010Cited by: 3References: 11

    Using 16 television Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and with a 2 (valence)×2 (action tendency)×4 (sequence) mixed design, an experiment (N=245) examined the impact of behavioral inhibition/activation systems (BIS/BAS) on affect. Two hypotheses (valence vs. action tendency) derived from the nature of emotions and properties of BIS/BAS were tested against each other. Due to the censored distributions of emotion variables and the mixed design, t…