Helen M Lillie
Biographic Data
| ID | 760540 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Helen M Lillie |
| GIVEN NAMES | Helen M |
| FAMILY NAME | Lillie |
| SIGNATURE | LILLIE H M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Iowa |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4355-0929 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 18 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Perceptions of Pandemic Messaging Across 36 Weeks
To understand public perceptions of pandemic messaging, we surveyed U.S. adults for 36 consecutive weeks starting on March 12, 2020. Using a repeated cross-section design, we tracked intentions to engage in protective behaviors, demographics, and four message perceptions: exhaustion, overload, repetition, and exaggeration. Exhaustion increased over time and became negatively related to intentions (rising negativity model). Exaggeration was stable…
Expanding the Theory of Persuasive Hope
Emotional reactions to health information significantly influence health decisions. The theory of persuasive hope details how messages can influence behaviors and intentions by evoking hope. Messaging about noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) has begun to include hope-focused appeals, and scholars have recommended using hope appeals in messaging about genetic testing. The current study extends the theory of persuasive hope by testing if critical …
Political Party Collective Norms, Perceived Norms, and Mask Wearing Behavior
The theory of normative social behavior (TNSB) postulates that people are influenced by others’ behaviors, which they observe from messages and experience. In addition to focusing on perceived (i.e., descriptive and injunctive) norms, the TNSB was expanded to include collective norms, which represent what people actually do. Testing this expanded theoretical model, the current study examined whether two types of collective norms – collective poli…
Targeted communication and race
Objectives: Targeting is a communication strategy in which a message is designed to address a particular group. It has been postulated that targeting increases message relevance; however, researchers are still explicating relevance and its impact on downline cognitive processes (e.g. message quality, cognitive cost). The current study addresses both gaps by evaluating the impact of targeted materials for White and African American audiences. Desi…
Exploring Appropriateness as a Topic Avoidance Motivation
A key motivation underlying topic avoidance is the belief that talk would be inappropriate. The current research teases apart the sources of this belief by testing family communication patterns (FCP) and perceived social norms as drivers of topic avoidance. Individuals planning to attend family holiday gatherings (N = 229) were surveyed in mid-December 2021 about family topic avoidance regarding COVID-19 holiday safety. Conformity orientation had…
Cancer Information Overload Across Time
A majority of U.S. adults report feeling overwhelmed by the amount of available cancer information, termed cancer information overload (CIO). Research has demonstrated CIO is prevalent and negatively related to health behaviors, but no study to date has examined this disposition across time. Two longitudinal studies – a colonoscopy intervention among older U.S. adults (N = 237) and an HPV vaccination intervention among young U.S. women (N = 411) …
Social media narratives can influence vaccine intentions
Encouraging Replotting to Promote Persuasion
This set of studies investigated replotting as a mechanism of narrative persuasion. Replotting involves both the cognitive act of imagining alternative plot lines to avoid an undesirable story outcome and an accompanying emotion such as anger, anxiety, or sadness. Both studies utilized a 2 (story outcome: death vs. survivor) × 2 (efficacy appeal: present vs. absent) message experiment design. Study 1 ( N = 1,207) tested a non-narrative efficacy a…
Connecting infertility beliefs with viewership of teen pregnancy media
Popular media often contain storylines focused on pregnancy and infertility. These storylines have the potential to perpetuate stigmatization related to these issues. According to the differential susceptibility to media effects model (DSMM), lay infertility beliefs could serve as either predictors or outcomes of pregnancy-focused media viewership, with moral sanction theory and cultivation theory supporting competing hypotheses. Further, viewers…
Resilience communication mitigates the negative relational effects of topic avoidance
Communicating about hardships with close others can be challenging, leading to avoidance of hardship‐related topics. Although typically considered relationally damaging, topic avoidance could serve as a beneficial or neutral strategy when paired with relationally affirming communication. The current research investigates if the resilience communication processes outlined in the communication theory of resilience mitigate the negative relational e…
Does it matter if a story character lives or dies
OBJECTIVE: In narratives, characters often face threats where they either live (survivor narratives) or die (death narratives). Both outcomes have the potential to persuade, and are frequently utilised in mass communication campaigns, yet more research is needed examining the relative effectiveness and underlying mechanisms of each strategy. DESIGN: = 1010) were randomly assigned to a 2 (survivor, death) × 2 (non-foreshadowed, foreshadowed) × 2 (…
‘I had a bigger cancer risk than I thought…’
BACKGROUND: Diagnoses of both melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers are becoming increasingly common among young adults. Interventions in this population are a priority because they do not consistently follow skin cancer prevention recommendations. OBJECTIVES: The goal of the current study was to examine college students' perspectives on and experience with receiving a skin cancer prevention intervention that provided personalized skin cancer ris…
Explicitness, disgust, and safe sex behavior
Dyadic coping and discrete emotions during Covid-19
The current study applies the communication theory of resilience (CTR) to assess married individuals' utilization of resilience communication during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines pathways between communicative resilience processes, relational uncertainty, discrete emotions, and evaluations of dyadic coping. Married individuals ( n = 561) were surveyed during April 21-April 29, 2020 using Qualtrics panels. Structural…
Topic Avoidance as a Privacy Management Strategy
As the population ages, siblings more frequently assume the role of filial caregiver. Siblings often avoid communication about caregiving, and this topic avoidance can be detrimental to well-being. Framed in the communication privacy management theory (CPM), the current study tests the associations between privacy rule criteria and siblings’ caregiving topic avoidance and the impact of topic avoidance on relationship satisfaction and depression. …
Information‐Processing and Cognition
The domain of information‐processing and cognition is exceedingly broad and lends itself to analysis from a variety of perspectives. The focus of this entry is upon functionalist approaches to the area. Cognitive functionalism seeks to posit the structures and processes of the mind based upon observed input–output regularities. Three foundational assumptions of functionalist theorizing are discussed, the domain of application of such theories and…
Dyadic coping and discrete emotions during Covid-19
The current study applies the communication theory of resilience (CTR) to assess married individuals' utilization of resilience communication during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines pathways between communicative resilience processes, relational uncertainty, discrete emotions, and evaluations of dyadic coping. Married individuals ( n = 561) were surveyed during April 21-April 29, 2020 using Qualtrics panels. Structural…
Resilience communication mitigates the negative relational effects of topic avoidance
Communicating about hardships with close others can be challenging, leading to avoidance of hardship‐related topics. Although typically considered relationally damaging, topic avoidance could serve as a beneficial or neutral strategy when paired with relationally affirming communication. The current research investigates if the resilience communication processes outlined in the communication theory of resilience mitigate the negative relational e…
Topic Avoidance as a Privacy Management Strategy
As the population ages, siblings more frequently assume the role of filial caregiver. Siblings often avoid communication about caregiving, and this topic avoidance can be detrimental to well-being. Framed in the communication privacy management theory (CPM), the current study tests the associations between privacy rule criteria and siblings’ caregiving topic avoidance and the impact of topic avoidance on relationship satisfaction and depression. …
Explicitness, disgust, and safe sex behavior
Information‐Processing and Cognition
The domain of information‐processing and cognition is exceedingly broad and lends itself to analysis from a variety of perspectives. The focus of this entry is upon functionalist approaches to the area. Cognitive functionalism seeks to posit the structures and processes of the mind based upon observed input–output regularities. Three foundational assumptions of functionalist theorizing are discussed, the domain of application of such theories and…
Topic Avoidance as a Privacy Management Strategy
As the population ages, siblings more frequently assume the role of filial caregiver. Siblings often avoid communication about caregiving, and this topic avoidance can be detrimental to well-being. Framed in the communication privacy management theory (CPM), the current study tests the associations between privacy rule criteria and siblings’ caregiving topic avoidance and the impact of topic avoidance on relationship satisfaction and depression. …
Dyadic coping and discrete emotions during Covid-19
The current study applies the communication theory of resilience (CTR) to assess married individuals' utilization of resilience communication during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines pathways between communicative resilience processes, relational uncertainty, discrete emotions, and evaluations of dyadic coping. Married individuals ( n = 561) were surveyed during April 21-April 29, 2020 using Qualtrics panels. Structural…
Does it matter if a story character lives or dies
OBJECTIVE: In narratives, characters often face threats where they either live (survivor narratives) or die (death narratives). Both outcomes have the potential to persuade, and are frequently utilised in mass communication campaigns, yet more research is needed examining the relative effectiveness and underlying mechanisms of each strategy. DESIGN: = 1010) were randomly assigned to a 2 (survivor, death) × 2 (non-foreshadowed, foreshadowed) × 2 (…
‘I had a bigger cancer risk than I thought…’
BACKGROUND: Diagnoses of both melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers are becoming increasingly common among young adults. Interventions in this population are a priority because they do not consistently follow skin cancer prevention recommendations. OBJECTIVES: The goal of the current study was to examine college students' perspectives on and experience with receiving a skin cancer prevention intervention that provided personalized skin cancer ris…
Explicitness, disgust, and safe sex behavior
Cancer Information Overload Across Time
A majority of U.S. adults report feeling overwhelmed by the amount of available cancer information, termed cancer information overload (CIO). Research has demonstrated CIO is prevalent and negatively related to health behaviors, but no study to date has examined this disposition across time. Two longitudinal studies – a colonoscopy intervention among older U.S. adults (N = 237) and an HPV vaccination intervention among young U.S. women (N = 411) …
Social media narratives can influence vaccine intentions
Encouraging Replotting to Promote Persuasion
This set of studies investigated replotting as a mechanism of narrative persuasion. Replotting involves both the cognitive act of imagining alternative plot lines to avoid an undesirable story outcome and an accompanying emotion such as anger, anxiety, or sadness. Both studies utilized a 2 (story outcome: death vs. survivor) × 2 (efficacy appeal: present vs. absent) message experiment design. Study 1 ( N = 1,207) tested a non-narrative efficacy a…
Connecting infertility beliefs with viewership of teen pregnancy media
Popular media often contain storylines focused on pregnancy and infertility. These storylines have the potential to perpetuate stigmatization related to these issues. According to the differential susceptibility to media effects model (DSMM), lay infertility beliefs could serve as either predictors or outcomes of pregnancy-focused media viewership, with moral sanction theory and cultivation theory supporting competing hypotheses. Further, viewers…
Resilience communication mitigates the negative relational effects of topic avoidance
Communicating about hardships with close others can be challenging, leading to avoidance of hardship‐related topics. Although typically considered relationally damaging, topic avoidance could serve as a beneficial or neutral strategy when paired with relationally affirming communication. The current research investigates if the resilience communication processes outlined in the communication theory of resilience mitigate the negative relational e…
Political Party Collective Norms, Perceived Norms, and Mask Wearing Behavior
The theory of normative social behavior (TNSB) postulates that people are influenced by others’ behaviors, which they observe from messages and experience. In addition to focusing on perceived (i.e., descriptive and injunctive) norms, the TNSB was expanded to include collective norms, which represent what people actually do. Testing this expanded theoretical model, the current study examined whether two types of collective norms – collective poli…
Targeted communication and race
Objectives: Targeting is a communication strategy in which a message is designed to address a particular group. It has been postulated that targeting increases message relevance; however, researchers are still explicating relevance and its impact on downline cognitive processes (e.g. message quality, cognitive cost). The current study addresses both gaps by evaluating the impact of targeted materials for White and African American audiences. Desi…
Exploring Appropriateness as a Topic Avoidance Motivation
A key motivation underlying topic avoidance is the belief that talk would be inappropriate. The current research teases apart the sources of this belief by testing family communication patterns (FCP) and perceived social norms as drivers of topic avoidance. Individuals planning to attend family holiday gatherings (N = 229) were surveyed in mid-December 2021 about family topic avoidance regarding COVID-19 holiday safety. Conformity orientation had…
Expanding the Theory of Persuasive Hope
Emotional reactions to health information significantly influence health decisions. The theory of persuasive hope details how messages can influence behaviors and intentions by evoking hope. Messaging about noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) has begun to include hope-focused appeals, and scholars have recommended using hope appeals in messaging about genetic testing. The current study extends the theory of persuasive hope by testing if critical …
Perceptions of Pandemic Messaging Across 36 Weeks
To understand public perceptions of pandemic messaging, we surveyed U.S. adults for 36 consecutive weeks starting on March 12, 2020. Using a repeated cross-section design, we tracked intentions to engage in protective behaviors, demographics, and four message perceptions: exhaustion, overload, repetition, and exaggeration. Exhaustion increased over time and became negatively related to intentions (rising negativity model). Exaggeration was stable…
Psychology (15 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Developmental psychology (6 works) · Media Influence and Health (6 works) · Medicine (6 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Behavioral Health and Interventions (4 works) · Narrative (4 works) · Perception (4 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (3 works)