Dynamic Fear in Fear Appeals: Applying Fear Appeals to Environmental Communication in China

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Abstract

This study investigates the role of dynamic fear in the effectiveness of communicating health threats (i.e. fear appeals) of ground-level ozone among Chinese citizens. An online survey revealed that fear appeal messages effectively enhance the audience’s risk perceptions, efficacy beliefs, and acceptance of the message. Crucially, dynamic fear reduction process positively predicts engagement in protective behaviors (i.e. danger control process) and negatively predicts engagement in fear control processes, such as message denial. Presenting severity before susceptibility resulted in a more positive attitude toward the message recommendation. These findings highlight that communicating health-threats about climate pollution is effective in raising awareness and motivating protective behaviors. Furthermore, our study underscores the importance of dynamic fear, specifically fear reduction, in increasing fear appeals’ effectiveness in communicating climate issues from a health perspective.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2024.2361356.

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by U.S. Department of State through award SCH50022CA0073.

Disclosure Statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ Outdoor activities refer to leisure pursuits such as jogging or walking the dog, rather than obligatory tasks like going to work. Complete messages and visuals are available in the supplementary materials.