Effectiveness Of Fear Appeals Research Articles

The effects of fear appeals on reactance in climate change communication

Addressing the existential threat posed by climate change requires urgent actions, both on an individual level and on a policy level. In the present research, we applied an emotion-based persuasion appeal model to climate change mitigation to test the effect of climate mitigation appeals formulated with different levels of threat (high vs. low) and appealing to different types of climate change solutions (individual vs. policy) in eliciting psychological reactance, motivating support for climate change mitigation, and influencing willingness to discuss the issue with others. Through an online between-subjects experiment, we found that appealing to individuals (as opposed to policy) increased individuals' perceived threat to freedom, and psychological reactance. Our threat manipulation increased levels of fear, but the interaction between level of threat and type of appeal was not statistically significant on any of our dependent variables. Results are discussed in light of the active debate regarding the effectiveness of fear appeals in the climate change communication context.

Message Effectiveness of Fear Appeals in Vaccination Communication Campaigns: A Systematic Review.

This systematic review of 54 cross-disciplinary peer-reviewed causal empirical studies helps public health officials, researchers, and healthcare professionals better comprehend the effects of fear appeals in vaccine promotional campaigns on message processing, persuasion, vaccination attitudes, and vaccination intentions. This review documents inconsistent findings across studies, which it attempts to clarify by considering differences in research designs, sample populations, and outcomes measured. In general, we find that fear appeals increase risk perceptions, message involvement, and vaccination attitudes. However, fear appeals have less influence on vaccination intentions, especially among female and general adult populations or populations from the U.S. and other Western cultures. On the other hand, the effect of fear appeals on vaccination intentions is stronger among student populations and those from China (People's Republic of China and Hong Kong) and other non-Western cultures. Also, fear appeals are less persuasive when promoting COVID-19 vaccines and boosters than they are for other vaccines (e.g., HPV, influenza, MMR). Future research should compare fear appeal effectiveness in messages across vaccines or when combined with other executional elements, such as the endorser or type of evidence provided. Finally, future studies should explore other methodological approaches and measure underexplored message outcomes, such as vaccine uptake behavior, in more naturalistic settings.

Reconsidering the Effectiveness of Fear Appeals: An Experimental Study of Interactive Fear Messaging to Promote Positive Actions on Climate Change

Masspersonal communication has emerged as a compelling alternative persuasive approach in response to the widespread use of social media. It is crucial to comprehend how observing online interpersonal interactions regarding the fear appeal of climate change can foster pro-environmental behaviors among users. This study examines the effects of vicarious message interactivity in promoting actions against climate change and the underlying mechanisms behind this effect. The results of an online experiment conducted in China (N = 236) revealed that psychological reactance and message elaboration mediated the effects of vicarious message interactivity on behavioral intention in a serial indirect effect. In comparison to static fear appeal, interactive fear appeal proves effective in reducing psychological reactance, promoting message elaboration, and ultimately increasing intention to take actions against climate change. Our findings not only contribute to the literature on interactive communication but also provide insights for environmental-health campaigns on social media.

Unmasking the pivotal role of ad–target ethnic congruence in driving consumers' response to fear appeals

AbstractFear appeals are persuasive messages that scare consumers into compliance with the appeals' recommendation by highlighting a personally relevant threat. Several factors, including personality traits and message features, can influence the effectiveness of fear appeals. This article proposes an additional element that contributes to the persuasiveness of fear appeals: ethnic congruence between the fear appeal and the target audience. Specifically, this research examines the interplay of high fear arousal appeals and ad–target congruence on message persuasiveness. We operationalize congruence by ethnicity match (vs. mismatch). A series of three experiments and a follow‐up study reveal that while high fear arousal appeals are more persuasive than low‐arousal appeals in general, their effectiveness is accentuated when the target audience feels congruent with the elements of the appeal. We argue that when encountering fear appeals, consumers' perceived ethnic congruence with the elements of the advertisement (e.g., ad character–target ethnic similarity) affects whether they identify with the ad and thus influences their perceived vulnerability to the publicized threat. This, in turn, influences the level of the induced emotion (i.e., fear), which subsequently drives persuasiveness. We document this effect using both self‐reported and behavioral measures. We also rule out an alternative account based on appraisal‐tendency theory, which predicts that the uncertainty dimension characterizing the emotions—for example, fear (anger) is associated with high (low) uncertainty—explains the results. The findings highlight the importance of representing diverse characters in marketing and public policy campaigns relying on fear appeals.

Examining the Differential Effectiveness of Fear Appeals in Information Security Management Using Two-Stage Meta-Analysis

ABSTRACT Most of the information security management research involving fear appeals is guided by either protection motivation theory or the extended parallel processing model. Over time, extant research has extended these theories, as well as their derivative theories, in a variety of ways, leading to several theoretical and empirical inconsistencies. The large body of fragmented, and sometimes conflicting, research has muddied the broader understanding of what drives protection- and defensive motivation. We provide guidance to the security discourse by offering the first study in the literature to employ two-stage meta-analytic structural equation modeling (TSSEM), which combines covariance-based structural equation modeling and meta-analysis. Information systems (IS) researchers have traditionally used meta-analysis for structural equation modeling for such purposes—an approach that has several serious statistical flaws. Using 341 systematically selected empirical security articles (representing 383 unique studies) and TSSEM, we pool a large series of five datasets to test six models, from which we examine the effects of constructs and paths in the security fear-appeals literature. We compare and test six versions of models inspired by issues in the broader fear-appeals literature. We confirm the importance of both the threat- and coping-appraisal processes; establish the central role of fear and that it has greater importance than threat; show that efficacy is a stronger predictor of protection motivation than is threat; demonstrate that response costs as currently measured are ineffective but that maladaptive rewards have a strong negative effect on protection motivation and a positive effect on defensive motivation; and provide evidence that dual models of danger control and fear control should be used.

CONSUMER’S RESPONSE TO FEAR APPEALS AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS IN ADVERTISING: CROSS-CULTURE COMPARISON OF FINNISH AND PAKISTANI CONSUMER’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THREAT APPEALS

Fears appeals are widely used by marketers to change consumer attitudes and behavior across different categories. The effectiveness of fear appeals may vary across different cultures and product categories. This research undertakes how culture influences consumer response to fear appeals of high-involvement products such as an automobile between Pakistani and Finnish Consumers. Educating people on road safety and car manufacturers using fear-based messages to elicit efficacy and fear among individuals is important. This research paper examines the effects of fear-based messages on consumers’ product attitude, Ad attitude, and buying intentions in the automobile industry across Finland and Pakistan. Both countries vary significantly in cultural orientation-Feminism vs Masculinity. The study uses a 2x2-independent group’s factorial design showing two levels of fear- Low-High. A total of 120 participants were recruited from both countries, 60 from each country diving into four sub-groups. Two-way ANOVA findings reveal a significant difference between the two groups regarding their feelings/emotions towards the fear-based message. However, empirical results indicate a non-significant impact of fear-based appeals on the two groups’ brand attitude, Ad attitude, and information-seeking and purchase intentions. The study has important implications for marketing professionals using fear-based messages under different cultural orientations a significant difference between the two groups.

Examining the Differential Effectiveness of Fear Appeals in Information Security Management Using Two-Stage Meta-Analysis

Examining the Differential Effectiveness of Fear Appeals in Information Security Management Using Two-Stage Meta-Analysis

Do Security Fear Appeals Work When They Interrupt Tasks? A Multi-Method Examination of Password Strength

Weak passwords are one of the most pervasive threats in cybersecurity. Facing this threat, users require guidance on how to protect themselves. A method frequently used by IS practitioners and researchers to provide this guidance is fear appeals, persuasive messages intended to prompt behavioral changes in response to a threat. However, previous research has not considered a key element of fear appeal effectiveness: task primacy. When fear appeals are a part of the primary or focal task, users’ cognitive engagement will be high by default. However, when fear appeals are delivered as secondary tasks, such as interruptive security messages, users’ engagement is likely to be low because the primary task takes priority in attentional and cognitive resources. In such cases, a remedy is needed to elicit engagement with the fear appeal. In this research note, we theorize that cognitive engagement acts as a contextual moderator that is critical to the effectiveness of fear appeals under the boundary condition of task primacy. Further, we theorize that interactivity, a mechanism that adapts message content through tailored real-time feedback in response to a user’s actions, is a key remedy to enhance engagement with fear appeals. However, to date fear appeals have largely been tested in noninteractive primary tasks, and no study has provided a theoretical explanation for why interactivity enhances the power of a fear appeal. We empirically examined engagement as a contextual moderator in two ways. First, we conducted a field experiment, which manipulated messages on a password creation form on a real-world website. Second, we performed a qualitative focus group study to triangulate the experimental results and more fully reify our theoretical model. Together, the findings reveal that interactivity acts as a catalyst to engage participants with a fear appeal, which then allows the persuasive message of the fear appeal to be internalized. The concepts of boundary condition of task primacy and engagement suggest ways that fear appeals can be more effectively applied in research and practice.

The Joint Effects of Social Norm Appeals and Fear Appeals in COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign Posters on Self-Perceived Communication Quality and Vaccination Intention.

To understand how different types of cues in vaccine education messages affect attitude toward campaign messages and vaccination intention, this study examined the impact of the presence of social norm appeals (individual vs. group cues) and the presence of fear appeals in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine campaign posters on perceived communication quality and vaccination intention. A 2 (social norm appeal: individual cue vs. group cue) × 2 (fear appeal: absence vs. presence) × 3 (repetition) within-subject factorial design experiment was conducted in China. Findings demonstrated that the presence of fear appeals in COVID-19 vaccine campaign posters elicited lower levels of perceived communication quality and vaccination intention than those without fear appeals. The interactive effect of fear appeals and social norm appeals was also found to be significant. Specifically, positive-framed messages (i.e., absence of fear appeals) with group cues and fear appeal messages with individual cues elicited higher perceived information quality and stronger vaccination intention than other types of messages. Understanding how these cues function jointly in COVID-19 vaccine campaign messages will help public health practitioners create more effective intervention strategies.

Change of risk behaviour in young people\xa0\u2013 the effectiveness of the trauma prevention programme P.A.R.T.Y. considering the effect of fear appeals and cognitive processes

BackgroundThe purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of the injury awareness and prevention programme P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth) in Germany. On a designated P.A R.T.Y. day, school classes spend a day in a trauma hospital experiencing the various wards through which a seriously injured person goes. A further goal of the study was to reveal indications of the programme’s mechanism of action by testing theory-based impact models of fear appeals and cognitive beliefs.MethodsIn a quasi-experimental longitudinal study with three measurement times the participants of 19 P.A.R.T.Y. days (n = 330), as well as pupils who did not attend the programme (n = 244), were interviewed with a standardised questionnaire. They reported risk behaviour, feelings of threat and cognitive beliefs about road traffic. The data were analysed using a meta-analytical approach to estimate an average effect size across the different P.A.R.T.Y. days. Path models were used to identify possible mechanisms of action.ResultsFor most of the parameters, small positive effects could be proven immediately after the P.A.R.T.Y. intervention. However, after four to 5 months only one statistically significant effect was found. Using path analytical models, important predictors for behavioural changes (e.g. self-efficacy) could be identified. But for these predictors no or only short-term effects were observed in the meta-analysis.ConclusionsFear appeals as used primarily in the P.A.R.T.Y. programme appear to cause behavioural changes only to a limited extent and only in the short-term, especially if the strengthening of psychosocial resources is not given sufficient consideration. The participants must also cognitively process the experiences in the hospital. Accordingly, consideration should be given to how the P.A.R.T.Y. program could be adapted to complement the fear appeal with cognitive components.

Self- and Response Efficacy Information in Fear Appeals: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract Fear appeals are designed to inspire intended and actual actions to avert a danger. Although prior meta-analyses report that the average effect of fear appeals is moderately positive, the role of efficacy information is not completely understood. Prior work and fear appeal theories have argued that the presence of both response and self-efficacy information improves fear appeal success but the individual impacts of each have not been properly estimated. A meta-analysis (k = 158, N = 19,736) was conducted to examine the individual and combined effects of response and self-efficacy information contained in fear appeals on behavioral intentions and behaviors. Estimating the impact of fear appeals relative to low and no fear controls, the meta-analysis showed that fear appeals had a stronger influence on behavioral outcomes when they included positive response efficacy information but did not vary as a function of including self-efficacy information or negative response efficacy information.

Exploring the Determinant Factors of Impulsive Buying Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Indonesian Consumers

The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the global economy, igniting much fear and panic that disrupted buying patterns and behavior. This study aims to investigate the phenomenon of impulsive buying behavior during the COVID-19 crises by exploring the influences of panic buying, perceived scarcity, and the mediation role of fear appeals. This study uses path analysis which is processed by using the Preacher-Hayes technique. A total of 243 respondents participated in the study. The result of this study revealed that perceived scarcity and panic buying were successfully proved to be significant predictors of impulsive buying behavior. However, the direct effect of fear appeals and the mediation role of fear appeals and panic buying on the relationship between perceived scarcity and impulsive buying behavior were failed to prove in this study.

Fear appeal effectiveness in antismoking campaigns: do anger and smoking matter?

ABSTRACT Although fear appeals are widely used in health campaigns, empirical studies have produced conflicting results regarding their effectiveness. To understand the impact of fear appeal in health campaigns, this study investigates the relationship between fear, anger, and smoking status in the context of an antismoking campaign. Using a survey of 829 people in South Korea, this study tests the three-way interactive model with the PROCESS macro. Results indicate that the effect of fear on attitudes toward the campaign depends on the level of anger, and show that the impact of ‘anger-adjusted’ additional fear appears only among nonsmokers. Implications for antismoking advertising strategies are discussed.

Improving the Design of Information Security Messages by Leveraging the Effects of Temporal Distance and Argument Nature

A substantial amount of previous research has examined the efficacy of fear appeals to elicit security-enhancing behaviors from users. However, despite more than a decade of research on fear appeals in security contexts, researchers have yet to understand which factors drive users’ responses to fear appeals. Instead, the literature is riddled with inconsistent findings on the antecedents that predict fear-appeal outcomes, fueling controversy and inhibiting progress on the problem. This research addresses the inconsistent findings by using construal level theory (CLT) to explain how temporal distance and argument nature affect fear-appeal appraisal. Based on two online experiments, we report evidence showing that temporal distance determines which antecedents drive fear-appeal outcomes, which helps explain inconsistent results found in prior literature. Moreover, we found that depending on the temporal distance condition, argument nature (i.e., “how” or “why” arguments) can impact the effectiveness of fear appeals. Overall, our findings refine the understanding of when certain factors influence users’ responses to fear appeals and provide guidance for future research on how to create more effective fear appeals.

Using Serious Games for Antismoking Health Campaigns: Experimental Study.

BackgroundSerious games for health have been gaining in popularity among scholars and practitioners. However, there remain a few questions to be addressed.ObjectiveThis study tests the effects of a serious game and fear appeals on smoking-related outcomes. More specifically, this research aims to understand how serious games function as a more effective vehicle for a health campaign than a traditional medium, such as a print-based pamphlet. Further, while serious games utilize a variety of persuasive strategies in the game’s content, it is not clear whether fear appeals, which are widely used persuasive-message strategies for health, can be an effective strategy in serious games. Thus, we are testing the effect of fear appeals in a serious game.MethodsWe created a computer game and a print brochure to educate participants about the risks of smoking. More specifically, a flash-based single-player game was developed in which players were asked to avoid cigarettes in the gameplay context. We also developed an online brochure based on existing smoking-related brochures at a university health center; antismoking messages on the computer game and in the brochure were comparable. Then, an experiment using a 2 (media type: game vs. print) x 2 (fearful image: fear vs. no-fear) between-subjects design was conducted. The study recruitment was announced to undergraduate students enrolled in a large, public Midwestern university in the United States. After a screening test, a total of 72 smokers, who reported smoking in the past 30 days, participated in the experiment.ResultsOverall, gameplay, when compared to print-based pamphlets, had greater impacts on attitudes toward smoking and the intention to quit smoking. Further, the game’s persuasive effects were especially pronounced when messages contained fear appeals. When fearful images were presented, participants in the game condition reported significantly more negative attitudes toward social smoking than those in the print condition [F(1,67)=7.28; P=.009; ηp2=0.10]. However, in the no-fear condition, there was no significant difference between the conditions [F(1,67)=0.25; P=.620]. Similarly, the intention to quit smoking [F(1,67)=4.64; P=.035; ηp2=0.07] and susceptibility [F(1,67)=6.92; P=.011; ηp2=0.09] were also significantly different between the conditions, but only when fear appeals were used.ConclusionsThis study extends fear appeal research by investigating the effects of different media types. It offers empirical evidence that a serious game can be an effective vehicle for fear appeals.

More fluency of the mental imagery, more effective?

PurposeFear appeals in advertising communication are considered by advertisers when other types of advertising appeals do not achieve expected effects. Fear appeals, by arousing the fear that something may threaten consumers’ present lives, are often adopted to persuade individuals to take a particular action. Although this topic has been widely studied, the internal operation mechanism of fear appeals in consumers has not been fully understood or agreed upon.Design/methodology/approachThree experiments were conducted where the type of fear appeal was manipulated (i.e. physical fear appeal or social ear appeal), as well as consumers’ consideration of future consequences (CFC) and mental imagery approaches.FindingsThis study examined the effects of fear appeal on mental imagery fluency and how it affects advertising effectiveness and the moderating effect of consumers’ CFC were discussed. When receiving advertisements with physical fear appeals, consumers with low CFC had greater mental imagery fluency than did those with high CFC. Furthermore, consumers’ purchase intentions could be improved by increasing consumers’ mental imagery fluency on fear appeal. Therefore, the interaction between fear appeal and CFC on purchase intention was mediated by mental imagery fluency. This study found that consumers responded differently to fear appeal advertising when they engaged in different mental imagery approaches.Originality/valueThe present study adds to social marketing literature by showing how consumers’ mental imagery fluency influence the fear appeal effectiveness, and this study’s results also enable social marketers to understand the two factors (i.e. consumers’ CFC level and mental imagery approaches) that affect the influence of fear appeals on consumers’ purchase intentions. Moreover, social marketers are recommended to provide consumers with advertising information by using various message types to facilitate consumers’ imagination of advertising appeals. This heightens the importance of consumers’ acceptance and absorption of advertising content, in turn, strengthening their purchase intentions.

EFFICACY OF FEAR APPEALS ON ADOPTION OF COVID-19 PREVENTIVE MEASURES: A CASE OF BODA BODA RIDERS IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

This study was an investigation of the effectiveness of fear appeals on the adoption of COVID-19 preventive measures among boda boda riders in the Nairobi County, Kenya. The problem of the study was that little or no research has been conducted on fear appeals and adoption of COVID-19 preventive measures, hence a gap that demands specific studies to be undertaken to fill it. This study draws from the Health Belief Model (HBM). Case study research design was used because the study focused only on boda boda riders operating in the seventeen constituencies in Nairobi County. Convenience sampling was used to identify the riders who were available and willing to participate in the study. The main data collection tool was telephone interviews. Findings of this study revealed that fear appeals were effective in making boda boda riders in Nairobi County adopt the COVID-19 preventive measures. The boda boda riders’ felt that they were susceptible to the coronavirus disease, police arrests, fourteen days mandatory quarantine, motorcycles being impounded and payment of fines, if they did not adopt the COVID-19 preventive measures. Moreover, the riders believed that the virus posed a more serious threat to their health and lives. The operators perceived susceptibility to the threats, elicited high levels of fear. The COVID-19 preventive measures, also, provided the riders with an effective method of changing behavior which they believe will protect them from contracting the virus. This study recommended that in order to motivate the boda boda riders to continue practicing the COVID-19 preventive measures, the government should frequently give the riders masks and hand sanitizers. Further, more communication campaigns should be developed and conducted on COVID-19 awareness and prevention among boda boda riders.

The Effects of Fear Appeals and Message Format on Promoting Skin Cancer Prevention Behaviors among College Students

This study tested the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) by examining how fear mediated the effects of threat on individuals’ assessment of risk, which was neglected in many fear appeal studies. Second, this study treated efficacy as an existing perception, and explored the effects of varying levels of threat and efficacy on individuals’ behavioral intention. Furthermore, this study examined whether message format, such as narratives, played a role on individuals’ behavioral intention. Implications for the EPPM and health message development were discussed.

The effect of varying danger controllability on attention to threat messages

SummaryThe objective of this study is to determine whether attention toward fear messages is affected by variation in the controllability of the associated danger. There is no consensus regarding the effectiveness of fear appeals in driving adaptive behaviour, and it may be the case that threat messages fail to capture attention if the associated danger is not explicitly controllable. One hundred and sixty undergraduate university students completed a computer task that involved exposure to threat cues signalling a danger (money loss). In high control blocks, attending to threat cues provided a high chance of avoiding the danger, whereas in low control blocks, attending to threat cues provided little chance of avoiding the danger. Attentional capture by threat was measured. A mixed‐design analysis of variance showed there was greater attentional capture by threat cues in high control blocks compared with low control blocks. This effect was observed with a short stimulus exposure duration and was magnified with a long exposure duration. Fear appeals could capture attention to a greater degree if the danger related to the threat message was communicated as being controllable. This has significant practical implications for the implementation of fear appeals.

Beneficial effects of reactance in health-related behavior? The effects of fear appeals on defensive and accepting reactions of smokers with different levels of self-esteem

In this study, the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) served as a theoretical background for explaining the persuasive effects of fear appeals on smokers. Based on the self-consistency theory, self-esteem was included as a moderator in this model for understanding in more detail under which circumstances, a fear appeal leads to accepting responses or to reactance. An online experiment was conducted, participating smokers read an article that contained either a neutral picture or a fear appeal. Including self-esteem in the EPPM revealed that in contrast to smokers with high self-esteem, smokers with low self-esteem increased perceived susceptibility and intention to quit, as well as reactance to a fear appeal. Moreover, reactance could not be considered a negative reaction to the fear appeal message, because for individuals with low self-esteem it was positively associated with the intention to quit. Results suggest that additionally considering smokers’ self-esteem can contribute to a more accurate prediction of the persuasive effects of fear appeals. The impact of self-esteem and reactance in health-related behavior is discussed, as are the implications for health-related messages and future research.