Fear-Appeal Messages: Message Processing and Affective Attitudes.

Theories of fear appeals suggest that fear-inducing messages can be effective, but public service announcements (PSAs) that emphasize fear do not always lead to desired change in behavior. To better understand how fear-inducing PSAs are processed, an experiment testing the effects of exposure to saf...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Communication Research Vol. 44; no. 7; pp. 952 - 976
Autor principal: Rhodes, Nancy
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Sage Publications Inc. Oct2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Fear-Appeal Messages: Message Processing and Affective Attitudes.
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        au: Rhodes, Nancy
        affil: The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
      su:
        Fear
        College student attitudes
        Message processing (Telecommunication)
        Announcements
        Thought & thinking
      sug:
        subj:
          Fear
          College student attitudes
          Message processing (Telecommunication)
          Announcements
          Thought & thinking
      keyword:
        affective attitudes
        persuasion
        positive emotion
        risky driving
        affective attitudes
        persuasion
        positive emotion
        risky driving
      ab: Theories of fear appeals suggest that fear-inducing messages can be effective, but public service announcements (PSAs) that emphasize fear do not always lead to desired change in behavior. To better understand how fear-inducing PSAs are processed, an experiment testing the effects of exposure to safe-driving messages is reported. College students (N = 108) viewed PSAs of varying message sensation value (MSV). Results indicated that messages with medium MSV resulted in intentions to drive more slowly than messages with low or high MSV. Measures of affective attitudes indicated that medium MSV messages resulted in fast driving being rated as less fun and exciting than those of either high or low MSV. These affective evaluations mediated the effect of message exposure on driving intention. Message derogation was not related to message intensity. Production of message-related thoughts decreased, and emotional thoughts increased with message intensity. This decrease in processing of message content suggested a limited capacity explanation for the effect of highly intense fear appeals.
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      src: R
    language: English
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