233
Views
41
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Message and conceptual confounds in fear appeals: The role of threat, fear, and efficacy

Pages 147-155 | Published online: 01 Apr 2009

References

  • Beach , R. I. 1966 . The effect of a “fear‐arousing” safety film on physiological, attitudinal, and behavioral measures: A pilot study . Research Review , June : 53 – 57 .
  • Beck , K. H. 1979 . The effects of positive and negative arousal upon attitudes, belief acceptance, behavioral intention, and behavior . The Journal of Social Psychology , 107 : 239 – 251 .
  • Beck , K. H. and Davis , C. M. 1978 . Effects of fear‐arousing communications and topic importance on attitude change . Journal of Social Psychology , 104 : 81 – 95 .
  • Ben‐Sira , Z. 1981 . Latent fear‐arousing potential of fear‐moderating and fear‐neutral health promoting information . Social Science and Medicine , 15e : 105 – 112 .
  • Berkowitz , L. and Cottingham , D. R. 1960 . The interest value and relevance of fear arousing communications . Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , 1 : 37 – 43 .
  • Boster , F. J. and Mongeau , P. 1984 . “ Fear‐arousing persuasive messages ” . In Communication Yearbook , Edited by: Bostrom , R. N. and Westley , B. H. Vol. 8 , 330 – 375 . Newbury Park, CA : Sage .
  • Bradac , J. J. 1983 . On generalizing cabbages, messages, kings, and several other things: The virtues of multiplicity . Human Communication Research , 9 : 181 – 187 .
  • Burgoon , M. , Hall , J. and Pfau , M. 1991 . A test of the “messages‐as‐fixed‐effect fallacy” argument: Empirical and theoretical implications of design choices . Communication Quarterly , 39 : 18 – 34 .
  • Burnett , J. J. 1981 . Internal‐external locus of control as a moderator of fear appeals . Journal of Applied Psychology , 66 : 390 – 393 .
  • Burnett , J. J. and Oliver , R. L. 1979 . Fear appeal effects in the field: A segmentation approach . Journal of Marketing Research , 16 : 181 – 190 .
  • Chu , G. C. 1966 . Fear arousal, efficacy, and imminency . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 4 : 517 – 524 .
  • Dillard, J. P. )1992(. Rethinking the study of fear appeals. Manuscript under review
  • Dziokonski , W. and Weber , S. J. 1977 . Repression‐sensitization, perceived vulnerability, and the fear appeal communication . The Journal of Social Psychology , 102 : 105 – 112 .
  • Fishbein , M. and Ajzen , I. 1975 . Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research , Reading, MA : Addison‐Wesley .
  • Frandsen , K. D. 1963 . Effects of threat appeals and media of transmission . Speech Monographs , 30 : 101 – 104 .
  • Hewgill , M. A. and Miller , G. R. 1965 . Source credibility and response to fear‐arousing communications . Speech Monographs , 32 : 95 – 101 .
  • Hill , D. and Gardner , G. 1980 . Repression‐sensitization and yielding to threatening health communications . Australian Journal of Psychology , 32 : 183 – 193 .
  • Horowitz , I. A. 1972 . Attitude change as a function of perceived arousal . The Journal of Social Psychology , 87 : 117 – 126 .
  • Hunter , J. E. , Hamilton , M. A. and Allen , M. 1989 . The design and analysis of language experiments in communication . Communication Monographs , 56 : 341 – 363 .
  • Jackson , S. and Jacobs , S. 1983 . Generalizing about messages: Suggestions for design and analysis of experiments . Human Communication Research , 9 : 169 – 191 .
  • Janis , I. L. 1967 . “ Effects of fear arousal on attitude change: Recent developments in theory and experimental research ” . In Advances in experimental social psychology , Edited by: Berkowitz , L. Vol. 3 , 166 – 225 . New York : Academic Press .
  • Janis , I. L. and Feshbach , S. 1953 . Effects of fear‐arousing communications . The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , 48 : 78 – 92 .
  • Kirscht , J. P. and Haefner , D. P. 1973 . Effects of repeated threatening health communications . International Journal of Health Education , 16 : 268 – 277 .
  • Kleinot , M. C. and Rogers , R. W. 1982 . Identifying effective components of alcohol misuse prevention programs . Journal of Studies on Alcohol , 43 : 802 – 811 .
  • Kohn , P. M. , Goodstadt , M. S. , Cook , G. M. , Sheppard , M. and Chan , G. 1982 . Ineffectiveness of threat appeals about drinking and driving . Accident Analysis and Prevention , 14 : 457 – 464 .
  • Krisher , H. P. III , Darley , S. A. and Darley , J. M. 1973 . Fear‐provoking recommendations, intentions to take preventive actions, and actual preventive actions . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 26 : 301 – 308 .
  • Leventhal , H. 1970 . “ Findings and theory in the study of fear communications ” . In Advances in experimental social psychology , Edited by: Berkowitz , L. Vol. 5 , 119 – 186 . New York : Academic Press .
  • Leventhal , H. and Niles , P. 1965 . Persistence of influence for varying durations of exposure to threat stimuli . Psychological Reports , 16 : 223 – 233 .
  • Leventhal , H. and Watts , J. 1966 . Sources of resistance to fear‐arousing communications on smoking and lung cancer . Journal of Personality , 34 : 155 – 175 .
  • Ley , P. , Bradshaw , P. W. , Kincey , J. A. , Couper‐Smartt , J. and Wilson , M. Psychological variables in the control of obesity . Obesity symposium . London. Edited by: Burland , W. D. , Samuel , P. D. and Yudkin , J. pp. 316 – 337 . Churchhill Livingstone .
  • Maddux , J. E. and Rogers , R. W. 1983 . Protection motivation and self‐efficacy: A revised theory of fear appeals and attitude change . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 19 : 469 – 479 .
  • McCornack , S. A. , Levine , T. R. , Le Poire , B. A. and Witte , K. 1992 . Threat and efficacy in personal relationships: The HYT principle Unpublished manuscript
  • Mewborn , C. R. and Rogers , R. W. 1979 . Effects of threatening and reassuring components of fear appeals on physiological and verbal measures of emotion and attitudes . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 15 : 242 – 253 .
  • Morley , D. D. 1988 . Meta‐analytic techniques: When generalizing to message populations is not possible . Human Communication Research , 15 : 112 – 126 .
  • Niles , P. 1964 . The relationship of susceptibility and anxiety to acceptance of fear‐arousing communications , Yale University . Unpublished doctoral dissertation
  • O'Keefe , D. J. 1990 . Persuasion: Theory and research , Newbury Park, CA : Sage .
  • Ramirez , A. and Laster , T. L. 1976 . Attitudinal and behavioral reactions to fear‐arousing communications . Psychological Reports , 38 : 811 – 818 .
  • Ramirez , A. and Lasater , T. L. 1977 . Ethnicity of communicator, self‐esteem, and reactions to fear‐arousing communications . The Journal of Social Psychology , 102 : 79 – 91 .
  • Rippetoe , P. A. and Rogers , R. W. 1987 . Effects of components of protection‐motivation theory on adaptive and maladaptive coping with a health threat . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 52 : 596 – 604 .
  • Rogers , R. W. 1975 . A protection motivation theory of fear appeals and attitude change . Journal of Psychology , 91 : 93 – 114 .
  • Rogers , R. W. 1983 . “ Cognitive and physiological processes in fear appeals and attitude change: A revised theory of protection motivation ” . In Social Psychophysiology , Edited by: Cacioppo , J. and Petty , R. 153 – 176 . New York : Guilford .
  • Rogers , R. W. and Deckner , C. W. 1975 . Effects of fear appeals and physiological arousal upon emotion, attitudes, and cigarette smoking . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 32 : 222 – 230 .
  • Rogers , R. W. and Mewborn , C. R. 1976 . Fear appeals and attitude change: Effects of a threat's noxiousness, probability of occurrence, and the efficacy of the coping responses . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 34 : 54 – 61 .
  • Self , C. A. and Rogers , R. W. 1990 . Coping with threats to health: Effects of persuasive appeals on depressed, normal, and antisocial personalities . Journal of Behavioral Medicine , 13 : 343 – 357 .
  • Sherer , M. and Rogers , R. W. 1984 . The role of vivid information in fear appeals and attitude change . Journal of Research in Personality , 18 : 321 – 334 .
  • Skilbeck , C. , Tulips , J. and Ley , J. 1977 . The effects of fear arousal, fear position, fear exposure, and sidedness on compliance with dietary instructions . European Journal of Social Psychology , 7 : 221 – 239 .
  • Smart , R. G. and Fejer , D. 1974 . The effects of high and low fear messages about drugs . Journal of Drug Education , 4 : 225 – 235 .
  • Stainback , R. D. and Rogers , R. W. 1983 . Identifying effective components of alcohol abuse prevention programs: Effects of fear appeals, message style, and source expertise . The International Journal of the Addictions , 18 : 393 – 405 .
  • Sutton , S. R. 1982 . “ Fear‐arousing communications: A critical examination of theory and research ” . In Social psychology and behavioral medicine , Edited by: Eiser , J. R. 303 – 337 . London : Wiley .
  • Tanner , J. F. , Day , E. and Crask , M. R. 1989 . Protection motivation theory: An extension of fear appeals theory in communication . Journal of Business Research , 19 : 267 – 276 .
  • Witte , K. 1992a . Putting the fear back into fear appeals: The extended parallel process model . Communication Monographs , 59 : 329 – 349 .
  • Witte , K. 1992b . The role of threat and efficacy in AIDS prevention . The International Quarterly of Community Health Education , 12 : 225 – 249 .
  • Witte , K. Fear control and danger control: An empirical test of the extended parallel process model . Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Speech Communication Association . Chicago. October .

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.