Purpose Driven Lab Research Projects

Honda USA Foundation: Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Human Synergy. This $100,000 grant was awarded by the Honda USA Foundation to support the development of culturally resonant public service announcements (PSAs) designed for boys ages 13 to 17. The project, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Human Synergy: Crafting Safe Driving PSAs for Latino and Hispanic Teens,” explores how AI tools and human creativity can collaborate to create meaningful messages tailored to this audience. This study, in collaboration with the University of Florida, Dr. Huan Chen, uses both qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to develop different message strategies to promote safe driving and AI-human collaboration in advertising.

The high incidence of mental health conditions underscores the paramount importance of formulating and implementing mental health awareness campaigns. Despite the urgency of this endeavor, public health campaigns striving to raise mental health awareness are frequently stymied by formidable challenges. Collectivist cultures, interdependent relationships with others, have been documented to be associated with a higher stigma toward mental illness. A fresh start mindset (FSM) can be used as a message framing to activate a positive mindset toward stigmatized issues. This framing can act as a nudge and a reminder to “refresh” and “reinvent,” especially when one feels trapped in a self-identity and fear to be deviant from social approvals that does not allow them to move forward. FSM framing could mitigate negative thoughts toward mental health PSAs among collectivistic individuals. This study suggests that those with higher collectivism have more positive responses (attitude toward the issue and ad effectiveness) than those with lower collectivism when exposed to FSM framing cues. Results found the following:

• Highly collectivistic individuals often experience dissonance between socially imposed stigmatizing norms and mental health issues.
• A FSM can help highly collectivistic individuals process mental health issues and advertising messages more positively and effectively.
• A FSM can help highly collectivistic individuals process mental health issues and advertising messages more positively and effectively.
• The FSM may differ from traditional positive or gain frames, as it emphasizes the shift away from entrenched societal beliefs, especially in the American context. and may serve as an effective tool to assist high collectivists transition from viewing mental health issues as stigmatizing defects to opportunities for new beginnings, reframing mental health issues not as deviance from social norms, but as a platform for a fresh start.
• The FSM method aligns with the concept of “identity-safe” cues, which can lessen perceived threats to social identity (e.g., being deviant from social norms) and foster a more inclusive environment for stigmatized groups.

Click here to download the poster presentation for the study.

Racism is a pervasive global issue with far-reaching societal impact. As both individuals and collective entities can contribute to achieving racial justice and equality (e.g., anti-Asian sentiment and hate incidents since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, increased by 150% during this period. This study adopted construal theory and found that perceived closer distance from Asian Americans led to a higher sympathetic response that resulted in higher activism-participation willingness and a higher purchase intention. Significant moderating effects were also found based on the campaign’s participatory strategies. Consumers who viewed social media posts with a low participatory strategy (high construal) (vs. a high participatory (low construal) strategy) were more likely to participate in the advocated activism, and they would purchase the company’s products through the underlying sympathetic mechanism. Results were found:

• As the campaign is highly participatory, only those who have a same construal level (low construal) in relation to the issue had a high sympathetic response.
• Sympathetic response did not fluctuate based on the levels of social distance from Asian Americans when the campaign did not ask for consumers’ participation in the activism.
• If a company wants to use a strategy that can stimulate consumers’ participations in the activism regardless of their social distance from the issue, low participatory strategy might be more effectively.
• For those who felt close to Asian American consumers, practitioners can have the freedom to choose either low or high levels of participatory CSR campaign messages.
• For those who felt far distant from Asian Americans, the CSR campaign messages may want to emphasize the company’s active participation (the company makes donations).

Click here to download the poster presentation of the following study.