Scary warnings and rational precautions
A review of the psychology of fear appeals
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23361904 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert A C Ruiter (0000-0001-5017-3258, Maastricht University), Charles Abraham (0000-0002-0901-1975, University of Sussex), Gerjo Kok (0000-0002-3501-4096, Maastricht University) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 613-630 |
| Publication date | 2001-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Psychology & Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0887-0446 • E-ISSN: 1476-8321 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/08870440108405863 |
| OpenAlex | W1989205184 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 116 |
| References cited | 98 |
Research into the effects of fear-arousal on precautionary motivation and action is reviewed. Current models do not adequately distinguish between emotional (i.e., fear arousal) and cognitive (i.e., threat perception) responses to fear appeals and, in general, are not well supported. Evidence suggesting that (i) coping appraisals are more powerful predictors of precautionary action than threat perception and that (ii) fear control processes may interfere with precautionary motivation, recommends cautious and limited use of fear appeals in health promotion. It seems likely that fear arousal is less important in motivating precautionary action than perceptions of action effectiveness and self-efficacy. Moreover, perceived personal relevance may be critical to the emotional and cognitive impact of threat information. Available findings are summarised in the form of a process model that highlights the potential complexity of fear arousal effects. Sequential measurement of fear arousal, other than by self-report, is recommended in studies seeking to clarify these effects.
Action (physics) · Arousal · Cognition · Coping (psychology) · Fear appeal · Perception · Psychiatry · Relevance (law) · Risk perception · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Clinical Psychology · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
Functional divergence of two threat-induced emotions
Impossibly good looks
Promoting lower-carbon lifestyles
Eye movement responses to health messages on cigarette packages
College Students' Perceived Risk and Anxiety After Reading Airplane Crash News
College Students' Perceived Risk and Anxiety after Reading Airplane Crash News
Communicating Climate Change
Communicating Climate Change
Fear appeals in social marketing
A socio-ecological exploration of fear of crime in urban green spaces – A systematic review
Threatening communication
Bridging the intention–behaviour gap
Sixty years of fear appeal research
Health warning messages on tobacco products
How reactions to cigarette packet health warnings influence quitting
Compliance without fear
Climate of hope or doom and gloom? Testing the climate change hope vs. fear communications debate through online videos
Attitudes and Beliefs That Predict Older People's Intention to Undertake Strength and Balance Training
Five roles for using theory and evidence in the design and testing of behavior change interventions
The impact of body image disturbances on social avoidance in burn patients
Behavioural intentions in response to an influenza pandemic
Preventing Zoonoses
Response Efficacy and Self-Efficacy Mediated the Relationship between Perceived Threat and Psychic Anxiety among College Students in the Early Stage of the Covid-19 Pandemic
Longitudinal Association of Smoking‐Related Attitude to Oral Health with Adolescents' Smoking Onset
Getting ready for mega disasters
A qualitative study of the anticipated barriers and facilitators to the implementation of a lifestyle intervention in the dutch construction industry
The devil is in the detail
The impact of the UK ‘Act Fast’ stroke awareness campaign
Determinants of intention to get tested for STI/HIV among the Surinamese and Antilleans in the Netherlands
The effect of information provision on consumers’ risk perceptions of, support for a ban, and behavioral intention towards the preventive use of antibiotics in food animals
Determinants of breast self-examination practice among women in Surabaya, Indonesia
More than a thousand words? The effect of photographic material on problem awareness and behavioral intentions regarding the sustainable consumption of mobile phones
The Mediation Effects of Covid Vaccine Anxiety, Safety, and Fear on the Relationships Between Covid-19 Threat and Efficacy Levels with Parents’ Intent to Vaccinate Children
Would Illness Representations of Covid-19 and Covid-19 Fears During Clinic Visits Promote or Reduce Behavioral Intention to Seek Medical Consultations for Flu Symptoms? A Random Telephone Survey in Hong Kong, China
Effects of Humor in Health Communication
Exploring southeast US mobile and manufactured home residents’ anchoring decisions
Conceptualising the role of marketing strategies of tourism providers in inducing risk‐taking behaviour
Examining Attenuated Responses to Coronavirus Disease-2019 Risk
Factors associated with the quitting intention among Chinese adults
Framing a Global Pandemic
Shaping health behaviors beyond reality
S ocial representation of Covid-19, attitudes and knowledge in the adult Portuguese population ( La representación social, las actitudes y los conocimientos de la población adulta portuguesa sobre la Covid-19 )
Understanding the inward emotion-focused coping strategies of individual users in response to mobile malware threats
The role of dissonance reduction and co-creation strategies in shaping smart service satisfaction – the case of Uber
Comparing Message Appeals Employed in Efforts to Prevent E-cigarette Use Among Students in a US University
Masking our risky behavior
Human Responses to Climate Change
Developing Communication Strategies for Mitigating Actions Against Global Warming
Protest Under Uncertainty
Examining uncertainties in government risk communication
Conceptualising risk communication barriers to household flood preparedness
Social Psychological Factors in Lifestyle Change and Their Relevance to Policy
Individual Behavior and Global Environmental Problems
Investigating culturally-oriented fear appeals in public information documents on HIV/Aids
The perceived value of maths and academic self-efficacy in the appraisal of fear appeals used prior to a high-stakes test as threatening or challenging
Affect-inducing risk communication
The influence of cultural worldviews on people’s responses to hurricane risks and threat information
Citizens’ adaptive or avoiding behavioral response to an emergency message on their mobile phone
The key to risk communication success. The longitudinal effect of risk message repetition on actual self-protective behavior of primary school children
Motivating sustainable behaviors by framing biodiversity loss as a public health risk
An Organizational Stakeholder Model of Change Implementation Communication
The Devil is in the Details
The future that may (or may not) come
Intimacy and Risky Sexual Behavior—what Does It Have to Do With Death
Fear of climate change consequences and predictors of intentions to alter meat consumption
The impact of food advertisements on changing eating behaviors
Does terrorism make people pessimistic? Evidence from a natural experiment
Using ambient communication to reduce drink-driving
Evaluating a flood-risk education program in the Netherlands
The Psychology of Climate Change Adaptation
The political effects of emergency frames in sustainability
Influences on Sustainable Behavior
Perception and utilization of public health services in Southeast Nigeria
Construction of the Offender in Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Training for Adults
Balancing health and work
Framing the flames
Fear Won't Do It
Personal experience and the ‘psychological distance’ of climate change
Women from minoritised ethnicities’ perception of cervical screening information leaflets in the UK
Sharing health risk messages on social media
Fear appeals and treatment side-effects
The role of fear as a barrier and facilitator to antiretroviral therapy initiation in Indonesia
Psychological impact of fear-based messages in context of Covid 19
The Role of Sociodemographic and Psychological Variables on Risk Perception of the Flu
A novel framework for analysing stakeholder interest in healthy foods
Effective methods to change sex-risk among drug users
Interactive effects of AI awareness and change-oriented leadership on employee-AI collaboration
Post-Sars tourist arrival recovery patterns
Tourists and severe weather – An exploration of the role of ‘Locus of Responsibility’ in protective behaviour decisions
The effects of tailored and threatening nutrition information on message attention. Evidence from an event-related potential study
Adverse effects of public health interventions
Responses to warnings about the impact of eating disorders on fertility
When scary messages backfire
Examining the mediating role of e‐health literacy in the relationship between Covid‐19 awareness and dispositional hope and the experiences of those who survived the disease
The influence of self‐efficacy on the effects of framed health messages
Distinct pathways to persuasion
Feelings of vulnerability in response to threatening messages
Self-Report and Psychophysiological Responses to Fear Appeals
Employee Perceptions of Crisis Spillover Risk
When the “Laws of Fear” Do Not Apply
Communication and Persuasion
Handbook of Social Psychology
Advances In Experimental Social Psychology
Findings and Theory in the Study of Fear Communications
All Frames Are Not Created Equal
Terror Management Theory of Self-Esteem and Cultural Worldviews
Implementation Intentions and the Theory of Planned Behavior
The Systematic Influence of Gain-and Loss-Framed Messages on Interest in and Use of Different Types of Health Behavior
A Meta‐Analysis of Research on Protection Motivation Theory
A New Look at Dissonance Theory
Metacognition in Action
Prediction and Intervention in Health‐Related Behavior
Message framing and sunscreen use
Defensive Processing of Personally Relevant Health Messages
Stress
Do Messages about Health Risks Threaten the Self? Increasing the Acceptance of Threatening Health Messages Via Self-Affirmation
The Theory of Planned Behavior
Self-Efficacy
A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeals
Stress, appraisal, and coping
The theory of planned behavior
Prospect Theory
The Psychology of Attitudes
Communication and persuasion
Social psychology
A Protection Motivation Theory of Fear Appeals and Attitude Change1
The precaution adoption process
The Importance of Subjective Norms for a Minority of People
The Health Belief Model and Sick Role Behavior
The effect of a national campaign on attitudes toward Aids
False physiological feedback and persuasion
Goal Achievement
Persistence of Influence for Varying Durations of Exposure to Threat Stimuli
Choices, values, and frames
Fear-Arousing Persuasive Messages
Rethinkin the Study of Fear Appeals
Putting the fear back into fear appeals
Fear control and danger control
A Conceptualization of Threat Communications and Protective Health Behavior
Fear appeals and persuasion
Novel argumentation and attitude change
Fear appeals and attitude change
Affect, cognition, and awareness
Effects of fear and specificity of recommendation upon attitudes and behavior
Affect arousal and positioning of recommendations in persuasive communications
The Influence of Message Framing on Intentions to Perform Health Behaviors
New directions in behavioral process research
Sex differences in attitude and behavior change under conditions of fear and specific instructions
Negative Emotion and Message Processing
Protection motivation and self-efficacy
Expectations of reassurance influence the nature of fear-stimulated attitude change
Effects of threatening and reassuring components of fear appeals on physiological and verbal measures of emotion and attitudes
On the primacy of cognition
Cognition and motivation in emotion
On the primacy of affect
Progress on a cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion
Effects of fear and instructions on how to cope with danger
Effects of fear arousal and reassurance on attitude change
Effects of fear appeals and physiological arousal upon emotion, attitudes, and cigarette smoking
Evidence that the production of aversive consequences is not necessary to create cognitive dissonance
Effects of components of protection-motivation theory on adaptive and maladaptive coping with a health threat
The effect of message framing on breast self-examination attitudes, intentions, and behavior
Feeling and thinking
The unbearable automaticity of being
Handbook of Personality Theory and Research
Social psychology and behavioral medicine
The theory of decision making
Changing Aids-risk behavior
Shaping perceptions to motivate healthy behavior
Effects of fear-arousing communications
The interest value and relevance of fear arousing communications
| Unique citing works | 116 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5,04 |
| Citation span | 2003 - 2026 (24) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 113 |