A recent study published in PNAS found that a simple priming exercise in which sedentary people think beyond themselves before viewing health messages can make those messages more effective. Not only did participants’ brain activity show that they were more receptive to the messages, but they actually became more physically active in the weeks that followed. The study involved 220 sedentary adults who were either overweight or obese.

“One of the things that gets in the way of people changing their behavior is defensiveness,” explained senior author Emily Falk, associate professor of communication, psychology and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. “When people are reminded that it’s better to park the car further away and get in a few more steps, or to get up and move around at work to lower their risk for heart disease, they often come up with reasons why these suggestions might be relevant for somebody else, but not for them.”

The researchers engaged the participants in one of two self-transcendence tasks (either reflecting on things that mattered most to them, or repeating positive wishes for both people they knew and strangers) and compared their responses to those in a non-transcendent control group asked to reflect on their least important value. While subjects were reflecting, they were in an fMRI machine, allowing researchers to see their brain activity in real time.

Then all participants viewed blunt health messages that encouraged them to be more active or explained why their current behaviors put them at risk. Those who had completed either of the self-transcendence tasks were significantly more active in the month that followed, with less time spent being sedentary. The researchers also found that during the self-transcendence tasks, people showed greater activity in brain regions involved in reward and positive-valuation, when compared to the control group.

“People often report that self-transcendence is an intrinsically rewarding experience,” said lead author Yoona Kang, a postdoctoral fellow with the Annenberg School. These rewarding feelings, the researchers believe, can lead people to be more open to hearing otherwise-unwelcome health advice, and that allowing people to feel part of something larger than themselves can have positive health effects.

“People are capable of doing things for their loved ones that they’d probably never do for themselves,” said Dr. Kang. The researchers are currently testing a phone app for the general public which delivers daily pairs of self-affirming and health messages, like those used in the study.