Dr. Enny H. H. J. Das

every weekday

Information in Dutch 

Enny Das is Associate Professor in Persuasive and Health Communication at the Department of Communication Science of VU University Amsterdam. She graduated in social psychology at the University of Amsterdam, and received her PhD in 2001 at Utrecht University on a dissertation entitled " How fear appeals work: Motivational biases in the processing and acceptance of threatening health messages". She worked at Wageningen University as an Assistant Professor in Persuasion before making the move back to Amsterdam, where she does research and teaching in the domains of health and risk communication, marketing communication, and interpersonal communication. Enny has published in major journals across disciplines (e.g., Communication Research; Health Psychology; Journal of Consumer Psychology; Psychological Science). She has acquired grants from national funding agencies such as NWO, ZonMW, CAMeRA, and CCSS, and is currently involved in research projects on risk communication, (online) health communication, logo design, communication and patient safety.

Teaching

• Marketing Communication and the consumer, MA
• Health and Risk Communication, BA
• Communication Skills, BA

Research

• Risk Communication
• Health Communication
• Marketing Communication

Communication in times of an outbreak" (EU FP7 project “Ecom@eu”, domain “health”).
This research activity is based on a successful EU grant proposal (together with Tilo Hartmann and Wouter van Atteveldt, project leader: Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, total research project budget €2,000,000, duration: 4 years). The project will examine effective intervention methods in times of an outbreak (like H1N1). Because public opinion plays a crucial role in that context, the VU team will examine - among other topics – the public debate about the H1N1 outbreak and related vaccination efforts in the mass media. More info is available under www.ecomeu.info. 

Recent publications

• Das, E., Vonkeman, C., & Hartmann, T. (in press). Mood as a resource in dealing with health recommendations: How mood affects information processing and acceptance of quit-smoking messages. Psychology & Health.
• Schagen, S. B., & Das, E., & Vermeulen, I.E. (in press). Information about cognitive problems contributes to cognitive problems in cancer patients. Psycho-Oncology.
• Das, E. (in press). Improving the effectiveness of mass-mediated health campaigns: Overcoming barriers to risk communication. International Public Health Journal, 3(1).
• Vet, R. De Wit, J.B.F. & Das, E. (in press). Breaking down barriers against HBV vaccination: The efficacy of role models in persuasive health messages to increase motivation to obtain vaccination against hepatitis B among men who have sex with men. Health Education and Behavior  
• Das, E., & Vermeulen, I. E. , Laagland, T. C., & Postma, A. M. (in press). When you are what you own. Do physically attractive people benefit more from owning sophisticated brands? International Journal of Advertising.
• Fennis, B. M., & Das, E. , & Fransen, M. L. (in press). Print advertising: Vivid content. Journal of Business Research.
• Tanis, M., Das, E., & Fortgens, M. (2011). Finding care for the caregiver? Active participation in online health forums attenuates the negative effect of caregiver strain on wellbeing. Communications, 36, 51-66. 
• Jorna, F., Wagenaar, P., Das, E., & Jezewski, J. (2010). Public-private partnership in Poland: a cosmological journey. Administration & Society, 42, 668-693.
• Schagen, S. B., Das, E., & Van Dam, F.S.A.M. (2009). The influence of priming chemotherapy-associated cognitive complaints on the expression of such complaints in breast cancer patients. PsychoOncology, 18, 674-678.
• Van Koningsbruggen, G. M., & Das, E. (2009). Don’t derogate this message! Self-affirmation promotes online type 2 diabetes risk test taking.  Psychology & Health, 25, 635-649.
• Van Koningsbruggen, G. M., Das, E. & Roskos-Ewoldsen, D. (2009). How self-affirmation reduces defensive processing of threatening health information: Evidence at the implicit level. Health Psychology. 28(5), 563-568. 
• Das, E., Bushman, B. J., Bezemer, M. D., Kerkhof, P., & Vermeulen, I. E. (2009). How terrorism news reports increase prejudice against outgroups: A terror management account. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 453-459.
• Das, E., & Fennis, B. M. (2008). In the mood to face the facts: When a positive mood increases systematic processing of self-threatening messages. Motivation and Emotion, 32, 221-230.
• Das. E., De Wit, J., Vet, R. & Frijns, T. (2008).  “Feeling” risk and seeing solutions: Predicting vaccination intentions against Hepatitis B infection among men who have sex with men. Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 728-732.
• Das, E., Kerkhof, P., & Kuiper, J. (2008). Improving the effectiveness of fundraising messages: The impact of charity goal attainment, message framing, and evidence on persuasion. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 36, 161-175.
• De Wit, J. B. F., Vet, R., & Das, E. (2008). What works best: Objective statistics or a personal testimonial? An assessment of the persuasive effects of different types of message evidence on risk perception. Health Psychology, 27, 110-115.
  

Other academic activities

• Member of Centre for Advanced Media Research Amsterdam (CAMeRA), International Communication Association (ICA), American Psychological Association (APA), Association for Consumer Research (ACR), Netherlands School for Communication Research (NESCoR), Associatie van Sociaal- Psychologische Onderzoekers (ASPO)
• Reviewing international journals (e.g., Psychological Science, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology) and research institutes (NWO, ZonMW)
• Secretary Education Committee Research Master Faculty of Social Sciences