The bolstering effect of conceptual priming on psychological help-seeking attitudes in men
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: It is a well-established finding that men are often unwilling to engage with mental health services, and that they hold negative attitudes toward psychological help-seeking. Consequently, men's psychological problems often remain untreated, which in turn can compromise their quality of life. AIMS: The present experiment addresses this problem using a conceptual priming paradigm from social psychology called Scrambled Sentence Test as an intervention to change men's negative attitudes toward psychological help-seeking. METHOD: The Scrambled Sentence Test works by asking participants to unscramble sentences that unbeknownst to them include priming words--in this case, openness and communication-related words. Sixty-nine men completed the task (with priming or control words) under the instructions of a condition-blind experimenter. RESULTS: The primed group showed more positive attitudes (Mdn = 56.5) toward seeking psychological help compared to controls (Mdn = 40.0), p < 0.01; r = 0.38. CONCLUSION: The findings are the first to suggest that conceptual priming of this kind can be used an as effective and time-efficient intervention by mental health professionals to encourage men to seek help for psychological problems.
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- Authors
- Yousaf, O., & Popat, A.
- Affiliations
- King's College London (GB)
- St George's, University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Yousaf, Omar
- ORCID
- Yousaf, Omar
- Venue
- Journal of Mental Health
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-02-02
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 347-350
- ISSN
- 0963-8237 (ISSN-L)
- 1360-0567
- OpenAlex
- W1973182223
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 0.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Locations
- Journal of Mental Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- The University of Bath Online Publications Store (The University of Bath) (submittedVersion)
- Pure (University of Bath) (submittedVersion)
- Research Space (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Roles and Identity Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychology and Mental Health
- Keywords
- conceptual priming, mental health help-seeking, help-seeking attitudes, men, mental health service utilization, openness, communication
- MeSH terms
- Help-Seeking Behavior, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Male, Mental Health Services, Middle Aged, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Young Adult
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