Exploring the Sequencing Effects of Fear-Hope Appeals on Promoting MMR Vaccination

ABSTRACT

Building upon recent theoretical perspectives on emotional flow and the dynamic nature of fear appeals specifically, this study examined the sequencing effects of the emotions (i.e., fear and hope) induced from a fear appeal on persuasion in the context of MMR vaccination. Specifically, an experiment (N = 386) with 2 video messages was conducted that manipulated the sequence in which participants experienced fear and hope, resulting in a fear → hope appeal and a hope → fear appeal. The findings show that the fear → hope appeal was more effective in increasing activism intentions than the hope → fear appeal. Fear and hope at different time points served as mediators for this effect. In addition, issue relevance was a moderator for this effect such that the fear → hope appeal was more effective only among those perceiving the issue as highly relevant. Discussions and implications are provided.

Data availability statement

Data available on request from the authors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website

Notes

1. We also used one item to measure perceived severity (i.e., if you were to become ill from measles, how serious do you think this illness would be?), perceived susceptibility (i.e., how likely do you think you are to become ill from measles?), response efficacy (i.e., how much do you agree or disagree with the statement that getting the MMR vaccine is effective in preventing measles?), and self-efficacy (i.e., how much do you agree or disagree with the statement that I believe I can protect myself from measles?), respectively. Our one-way ANOVA tests showed a significant main effect of the experimental conditions on perceived severity, F(1, 384) = 6.62, p = .010, partial η² = .017, but not on the other three variables. Specifically, the FH video led to stronger perceived severity than the HF video.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.