Don't forget the context when you are talking about organ donation: Social representations, shared mood and behaviour

Abstract

The tenuous relationship between beliefs and behaviour is well known. What is less well‐known is how the context in which beliefs are elicited affects the salience of those beliefs and their subsequent effect on behaviour. Drawing from a dialogical approach within social representations theory, beliefs about organ donation were conceptualised as contradictory and interdependent. The context we examined was the collectively‐shared, positively charged mood at the pre‐game events of a sporting Grand Final. Two hundred and seventeen participants, who had not previously registered on the Australian Organ Donor Register (AODR), completed a survey measuring positive and negative beliefs about organ donation followed by an on‐the‐spot opportunity to register their donation decision on the AODR. Using Generalised Structural Equation Modelling, we show the salience of positive beliefs about organ donation increased with the strength of the positively shared mood; positive beliefs were negatively correlated with negative beliefs about organ donation, and the strength of negative beliefs in turn predicted the probability of registration. Positive beliefs were unrelated to registration. The findings highlight the role of themata in contradictory social thought, and how the context in which people consider organ donation can affect how people to they think about organ donation and subsequently their registration behaviour.