What is the effect of a fear-arousing communication?

FEAR AROUSAL AND PERSUASION

  • Psychology

  • 1975

This study was designed to re-examine the validity of the defensive avoidance hypothesis in the study of fear-arousing communications.In the present study, three independent variables were used-that

Fear appeals and persuasion: the differentiation of a motivational construct.

  • H. Leventhal
  • Psychology

    American journal of public health

  • 1971

To convince you that nothing is so practical as a good theory, I shall review two sets of ideas that can be used to understand the persuasive effects of fear-arousing health messages, discuss how well these ideas fit empirical data, and leave you to decide which provides the most creative suggestions for practical action.

Motivation and the communication processes

  • F. Mcdonald
  • Psychology

  • 1961

THE ASSUMPTION THAT HUMAN BEHAVIOR is "motivated" is common. Workers in such diverse fields as education, advertising, and politics stress the importance of analyzing men's motives and the value of

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Fear Appeals

Definition

Fear appeals, or fear-arousing communications, are communications that emphasize negative consequences of specific behaviors to motivate behavior change. Fear-arousing communications usually consist of two parts, namely, a fear appeal that stresses the severity of, and personal vulnerability to, a threat and a recommended protective action capable of reducing or eliminating the threat.

Context and Importance

Fear appeals are widely used in health promotion. They come in many guises, from the obligatory health warnings on cigarette packs to essays about the deleterious effects of obesity. With an estimated 40% of premature mortality from the 10 leading causes of death in the United States due to modifiable lifestyle factors, the use of fear appeals in health promotion has become an accepted means of improving the health of populations. The ...

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Authors

  1. William Allen

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Allen, W. Effects of fear-arousing communications. ETR&D 1, 222 [1953]. //doi.org/10.1007/BF02713264

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  • Published: 16 August 2021

  • Issue Date: June 1953

  • DOI: //doi.org/10.1007/BF02713264

Keywords

  • Tooth Decay
  • Hygiene Practice
  • Mass Communication
  • Dental Hygiene
  • Explanatory Hypothesis

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What is the fear arousal approach?

Fear arousal—vividly showing people the negative health consequences of life-endangering behaviors— has been suggested as a method to raise awareness of risk behaviors and to change them into health-promoting behaviors.

What is fear based communication?

The “fear-based communications” method consists of three elements: information on potential threat that evokes feeling of anxiety, information on how target group can be affected by these threats, and finally, solutions to safeguard or reduce the negative effects.

Is fear arousing advertising effective?

The results indicate that print ad induced arousal effects fell short of the "threshold" point. However, a comparison between fear appeal treatment groups reveals that the stronger fear appeal resulted in arousal effects showing "progress" toward the threshold point.

What is fear appeal in social psychology?

Fear appeals are persuasive messages that attempt to arouse fear by emphasizing the potential danger and harm that will befall individuals if they do not adopt the messages' recommendations [Dillard, 1996; Maddux & Rogers, 1983].

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