Fear appeals have three major components: the message, the audience, and the recommended behavior. It was d = .05 with a 95% confidence interval that crossed 0 [.34, 0.24], suggesting that neither the linear nor curvilinear hypotheses were fully supported by the body of existing fear appeal research. Ukraine war latest: Boy, 6, cries as sister killed in Russian attack However, the participants in this high-fear condition were actually less likely than those who saw milder images about tooth decay to improve their brushing and flossing habits in a post-test one week after exposure to the initial fear appeal. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. Psychological Bulletin, 141, 11781204. An official website of the United States government. Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited. We may learn that certain behaviors we engage in are potentially harmful and have now become fearful; yet, we still engage in the harmful behaviors (Tannenbaum et al., 2015). Although it is applied more in the context of news than persuasion, the EFM has the potential to assist in understanding how fear-based messages might generate persuasive influence by emphasizing how emotion-relevant information is more likely to be attended to later in the message and how post-message behaviors are likely to be consistent with emotional motivations. In this article, we discuss the use of fear appeals during the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential negative sociobehavioral outcomes fear-based messaging may have. Health 366 (know these terms) Flashcards | Quizlet Still, meta-analyses across a range of fear- appeal studies have helped clarify the direction and magnitude of fears influence on persuasive outcomes and associated cognitions. Exerting effort may be preferred to doing nothing at all. I believe that most current approaches to anxiety fall short because they are predicated on the medical model, which views anxiety as an illness. Many studies on the effectiveness of fear appeals have been conducted. Moreover, it might be best directed toward individuals who are known and for whom the recommendations apply appropriately, rather than an ambiguous population. Visually, the EPPM is represented as a path model whereby the four message components in the external stimuli (i.e., self-efficacy, response efficacy, susceptibility, and severity) predict their related cognitive perceptions. PLoS One. It presents a risk, presents the vulnerability to the risk, and then may, or may not suggest a form of protective action. Further, individual differences have been considered to determine who is most likely to experience fear during and after message consumption. APA Dictionary of Psychology However, fear appeals should be used cautiously, since they may backfire if target audiences do not believe they are able to effectively avert a threat [ 21] p. 605. That is, too little fear or too much fear would push individuals toward maladaptive behaviors that quickly reduce the aversive state, such as problem minimization or source derogation, without offering true protection from the threat. They also confirmed prior findings that fear appeals are effective when they describe how to avoid the threat (e.g., get the vaccine, use a condom). At a methodological level, many studies of fear appeals fail to measure the emotion of fear itself as an outcome, instead analyzing only threat and efficacy cognitions. As such, each theory or model does not always present a direct response to its immediate predecessor. MeSH Although these meta-analyses focus on different variables used across different fear-appeal theories, together they provide helpful evidence for any theory that utilizes the variables each meta-analysis addressed. How Fear Appeal Approaches in COVID-19 Health Communication May Be