Explicit and implicit values are associated with decision-making in dilemmas related to health

Abstract

Background. Individuals who aim at changing their health behaviour do not always handle the issue immediately. This discrepancy is usually referred to as the intention behaviour gap. Implicit processes are one of the factors which mediate between intention and behaviour. Compared to cognitive and affective implicit processes, motivational implicit processes are given a very little account in the modern science. Currently it is not quite clear how implicit and explicit values are focused on within the health-related decision-making process. Objective. The present study shows how implicit and explicit values and their congruency are focused on health-related decision-making process in dilemmas. The dilemmas were described as situations within which the subjects report on making a choice: either to avoid losses related to health, or to avoid losses related to other values. Choosing health, the participant avoids losses related to it, whereas they acquire losses related to other values, and vice versa. Design. The participants participated in the Schwartz’s Value Survey (measuring explicit values), Implicit Association Tests (measuring implicit values) and solve three types of dilemmas (health vs benevolence, health vs self-direction, health vs achievement). Research Results The research shows that implicit and explicit values are not related to each other and are differently related to decision-making process in dilemmas. Namely, implicit values of achievement, benevolence and self-direction are related to decision-making in dilemmas with low potential losses. Many of these values turn to be significant to the participants, and some of the dilemmas are not solved in favour of health-related issues. Explicit values are related to decision-making process in dilemmas with high potential losses. Many of these values turn to be significant to the participants, and some of the dilemmas are not solved in favour of health-related issues. Finally, it was found that high correlation between explicit and implicit values is positively related to decision making in favor of health. Conclusion. The research shows that explicit and implicit values are differently associated with health-related decision-making in the participants.

Keywords

• motivation
• values
• implicit processes
• health
• decision-making