You may have a cancer-causing virus and not even know it” Fear appeals in online news

Most explanations of health risks are presented as “fear appeals,” messages that attempt to arouse fear to modify personal behavior. The central goal of this research is to assess fear appeal performance in online news while examining several research-design issues. Looking at digital news content as fear appeals will expand the scope of research into a new area, and more effective measurement and induction will avoid some common pitfalls. An online experiment produced data indicating that perceived threat and efficacy relationships developed as expected in online news and that improvements in research-design artifacts strongly affect observed variable relationships. Fear appeal and efficacy messages included in digital media content seem to be effective means to altering individual behavioral intentions

Advertising · Appeal · Appeal to emotion · Business · Digital media · Fear appeal · Internet privacy · Political science · World Wide Web · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Computer Science · Media Influence and Health · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology