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Rationale: As over 90% of people who register to be organ donors do so at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), DMVs are perceived as a key context for increasing donor registration rates. Scholars have recently noted that the driver's license application itself, including the placement of the donor registration item relative to other questions, can possibly influence donor registration behavior. The goal of the current study was to experimentally investigate this possibility., Method: We conducted an experiment using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) between March and May of 2021 to investigate the influence of question order on donor registration willingness. Participants received a question regarding their willingness to register either before or after a series of health and legal questions often asked at DMVs., Results: The placement of the donor registration question had a positive effect on registration willingness for non-registered individuals (OR = 2.01, 95% CI [1.59, 2.54]) and previously registered donors (OR = 2.57, 95% CI [2.22, 2.99])., Conclusion: Changing the question order of driver's license applications has the potential to influence registration rates., (Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The current research investigated two rarely used appeals for increasing organ donor registration-both with the potential to backfire. The three-in-1000 appeal explains that less than one percent of people will die in such a way that their organs can be donated. This appeal could heighten awareness that donor registration is needed, but it can also convey that registering is futile. The dynamic norms appeal emphasizes the increasing number of people who are becoming registered donors. This appeal could increase the perceived normative nature of registration, but doing so can also lead potential donors to conclude that enough people are already registered. In Studies 1 and 2, participants recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk were randomly assigned to either one of these appeals, and their attitudes toward donor registration and intentions to register as a donor were compared to participants in a no-message control group. Study 2 included a qualitative component where participants were asked to describe their perceptions as to why the message was or was not influential. In both experiments, intentions to register were higher for those in both messaging conditions compared to the control group. Positive attitudes toward organ donation were higher in the three-in-1000 condition compared to the control group for both studies. Those in the dynamic norms condition reported more positive attitudes than the control group in Study 1, but not Study 2. In both studies, there was scant evidence of the messages backfiring. In the qualitative component of Study 2, self-reported reasons for the influence of each method provided insight into how and why these appeals were influential, and indicated signs of underdetection for the dynamic norms message., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Objective: To reduce uncertainty about the effectiveness of Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMV) interventions, we assessed the influence of several DMV-based media campaigns on organ donor registration., Method: Across 4 studies, campaigns were implemented in 8 (Studies 1-3) or 9 (Study 4) New Mexico DMVs. Three theories guided message development (i.e., efficacy, altruism, vested interest). Donor registration was the outcome measure., Results: In Study 1, both the efficacy (OR = 1.14) and altruism (OR = 1.11) campaigns resulted in significantly more registrations than the control condition and the vested interest campaign. In Study 2, the efficacy campaign (OR = 1.13) again resulted in significantly more registrations than the control and vested interest campaign. In Study 3, a new version of the efficacy campaign (OR = 1.21) and 2 new versions of the vested interest campaigns (OR = 1.12; 1.14) all resulted in significantly more registrations than the control condition. In Study 4, neither the efficacy campaign (OR = 1.06) nor a campaign that combined efficacy and vested interest materials (OR = 1.03) significantly increased registrations. A single-paper meta-analysis assessing these studies indicated all 3 appeals resulted in significantly greater registrations than the control (OR ranged from 1.06 to 1.13)., Conclusion: Results indicate donor registration rates can be increased through DMV-based media campaigns; however, the appeal used, and the implementation of that appeal, can determine the likelihood of success. These results can guide the development and implementation of campaigns seeking to influence donor registration and other prosocial behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Guided by vested interest theory, the impact of educating potential organ donors about the beneficial experiences afforded to families of deceased donors was assessed. Participants were informed about these benefits by taking a survey that asked them to indicate both their awareness, and the appeal, of numerous existing benefits (e.g. grief services). We employed a double-sided mixed design . Both the true experimental design and the quasi-experimental repeated assessment indicated increased registration intentions. Only the quasi-experimental design indicated significant attitude change. This study provides evidence supporting the potential utility of focusing interventions on the benefits afforded to donor families.

Background: The current studies examined how positive affect (i.e. the blend of several positive feelings over time) and discrete positive emotions (i.e. a specific set of momentary thoughts and feelings) influence organ donor registration outcomes., Methods: In Study 1, participants were randomly assigned to a writing task intended to elicit positive or negative affect. In Study 2, participants received a discrete positively valenced emotion induction (i.e. elevation, humor, hubristic pride), or were in a control condition., Results: Study 1 (N = 503) indicated a causal relationship between general positive affect and registration attitudes. An indirect effect beginning with general positive affect, going through attitudes, and then intentions, to influence behavior was also indicated. Study 2a (N = 394) demonstrated that elevation, humor, and hubristic pride can be influenced using an online platform. Study 2b (N = 1,046) indicated a causal relationship between elevation and increased registration intentions and behavior. The humor recall task caused marginally significant greater registration intentions, but no significant behavioral differences. The hubristic pride task did not influence registration outcomes., Conclusion: Organ donor practitioners and scholars could benefit from increased focus on the emotional states likely to be experienced at different venues when considering intervention contexts., (© 2018 The International Association of Applied Psychology.)