Psychology study on Fear Appeal

"Sixty years of fear appeal research: Current state of the evidence"

This journal study gives an in-depth study of fear appeal theory including how it works in marketing and health settings, theories that contradict, and how to assess it effectively. 

Abstract: 

"Following a brief overview of the use of fear arousal in health education practice and the structure of effective fear appeals according to two main theoretical frameworks—protection motivation theory and the extended parallel process model—the findings of six meta-analytic studies in the effectiveness of fear appeals are summarized."

"Threatening health messages are popular in health education design. For example, the introduction of health warnings on cigarette packages in 2002 was accompanied by wide-scale media attention on television, radio and in newspapers throughout Europe. Soon after the introduction of these messages, national polls were presented that suggested that people smoked less because of the new health warnings."

"Protection Motivation Theory (PMT; Rogers, 1983) is the most widely applied scientific model. PMT suggests that fear appeals instigate two evaluative processes, threat appraisal and coping appraisal. Threat appraisal includes assessments of threat severity and personal susceptibility, whereas coping appraisal includes assessments of the effectiveness of potential responses (i.e., response efficacy) and one's ability to undertake these successfully (i.e., self-efficacy). Together these appraisals generate protection motivation or “the intent to adopt the communicator's recommendation”"

"The Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM; Witte et al., 2001) further develops these ideas and proposes that threat perception initially instigates danger control processes. Danger control is positive because it motivates the reader to take protective, risk-reducing action. So, if the recommended action is seen to be effective and feasible, the person receiving the threat message is likely to follow protective recommendations. However, if coping appraisal suggests that no action is available that is effective in averting the threat and easy to perform, then continuing threat perception will result in ongoing fear arousal."

Communicate Risks Effectively:

"Some research suggests that we may be able to encourage people to attend to messages conveying threatening health messages, without rejecting them, by using self-awareness techniques. Experimental studies suggest that self-affirmation—a procedure in which people reflect upon cherished values or attributes, for example, responding to questions about their most important values or reflecting on their desirable characteristics—may have the potential to promote more open-minded, balanced appraisal of threatening health messages."

Conclusion:

"By focusing primarily on threat severity, the evidence on fear appeals is not translated into the design of health messages. Current evidence shows that information about the severity of possible negative consequences from risk behavior may prompt defensive responses. These counterproductive responses may be avoided by providing instruction on how to successfully implement the recommended actions as well as convincing people that they are personally susceptible to the threat."

Ruiter, R. A. (2014). Sixty years of fear appeal research: Current state of the evidence. International Journal of Psychology, 49(2), 63–70. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12042