Effects of portraying an innocent versus non-innocent identified victim on intentions to donate organs post-mortem.

Abstract

The need for more people to register as organ donors is a pressing concern. This preregistered experiment examined whether portraying a patient in need of an organ transplant as leading a healthy lifestyle (an "innocent victim") can serve to increase people's intentions to register as post-mortem organ donors. Participants not previously registered as organ donors (N = 348) were randomly assigned to an innocent identified victim, non-innocent identified victim, or statistical victims condition. The identified victim was a 42 year-old woman in need of a liver transplant. The experimental manipulation produced marginally significant effects on self-reported intentions to register as an organ donor. Moreover, participants in the innocent victim condition were more likely relative to those in the non-innocent victim condition to sign up on an e-mail list to receive additional information about organ donation.