The DOI matches its Crossref record; 202 of the 203 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 1 of the 24 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
Appealing to fear: A meta-analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories
Open accessAbstract
Fear appeals are a polarizing issue, with proponents confident in their efficacy and opponents confident that they backfire. We present the results of a comprehensive meta-analysis investigating fear appeals' effectiveness for influencing attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. We tested predictions from a large number of theories, the majority of which have never been tested meta-analytically until now. Studies were included if they contained a treatment group exposed to a fear appeal, a valid comparison group, a manipulation of depicted fear, a measure of attitudes, intentions, or behaviors concerning the targeted risk or recommended solution, and adequate statistics to calculate effect sizes. The meta-analysis included 127 articles (9% unpublished) yielding 248 independent samples (NTotal = 27,372) collected from diverse populations. Results showed a positive effect of fear appeals on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, with the average effect on a composite index being random-effects d = 0.29. Moderation analyses based on prominent fear appeal theories showed that the effectiveness of fear appeals increased when the message included efficacy statements, depicted high susceptibility and severity, recommended one-time only (vs. repeated) behaviors, and targeted audiences that included a larger percentage of female message recipients. Overall, we conclude that (a) fear appeals are effective at positively influencing attitude, intentions, and behaviors; (b) there are very few circumstances under which they are not effective; and (c) there are no identified circumstances under which they backfire and lead to undesirable outcomes.
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“these results are presented in Appendix A and are consistent with the results based on the combined measure.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Coding of Outcomes (Effect Size Calculation)
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In the paper
“The average weighted effect size comparing outcomes for treatment to comparison groups was d = 0.29 with a 95% CI of [0.22, 0.35].”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Average Effect Size and Between-Effects Variability
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In the paper
“The results support this hypothesis: Fear appeals were more effective when they included efficacy statements (95% CI: [0.31, 0.55]) than when they did not (95% CI: [0.13, 0.29]).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of message content hypotheses
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In the paper
“Moderation analyses based on prominent fear appeal theories showed that the effectiveness of fear appeals increased when the message included efficacy statements, depicted high susceptibility and severity, recommended one-time only (vs. repeated) behaviors, and targeted audiences that included a larger percentage of female message recipients.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Abstract
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In the paper
“Moderation analyses based on prominent fear appeal theories showed that the effectiveness of fear appeals increased when the message included efficacy statements, depicted high susceptibility and severity, recommended one-time only (vs. repeated) behaviors, and targeted audiences that included a larger percentage of female message recipients.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Abstract
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In the paper
“Further, the current meta-analysis used a substantially larger meta-analytic database than prior analyses, thus providing us with more precision to test relevant hypotheses.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > A Message-Behavior-Audience Framework of Fear Appeals
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In the paper
“Moderation analyses based on prominent fear appeal theories showed that the effectiveness of fear appeals increased when the message included efficacy statements, depicted high susceptibility and severity, recommended one-time only (vs. repeated) behaviors, and targeted audiences that included a larger percentage of female message recipients.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Abstract
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In the paper
“In the entire database (k = 248), 21 samples included more than two experimental groups exposed to varying levels of depicted fear.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Coding of Potential Moderators
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesA result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Moderation analyses based on prominent fear appeal theories showed that the effectiveness of fear appeals increased when the message included efficacy statements, depicted high susceptibility and severity, recommended one-time only (vs. repeated) behaviors, and targeted audiences that included a larger percentage of female message recipients.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Abstract
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In the paper
“There was also significant heterogeneity among effect sizes Q(247) = 1,287, I2 = 85.11, p < .0001.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Average Effect Size and Between-Effects Variability
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- Probably not a substantial claim. 25
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- The quote only partly states this claim. 1
The sources with a verdict support this claim; the rest weren’t checked yet, have no full text we could read, or their verdicts aren’t rated yet.
In the paper
“based on a well-established body of literature in persuasion demonstrating that aspects of a message’s source can influence the persuasiveness of the message (Briñol & Petty, 2009; Kumkale et al., 2010; Pornpitakpan, 2004; Wilson & Sherrell, 1993), the source of a fear appeal communication should be an important moderator for fear appeal effectiveness.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Future Directions
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Briñol & Petty, 2009 source
- Supportedcites Kumkale et al., 2010 source
The Discussion’s ‘Identification, Selection, and Integration of Attitude-Relevant Information’ section states that a message’s source can influence attitudes. The ‘Applied Implications’ section further reports that using a credible source can aid persuasion, particularly when recipients are forming attitudes. (LLM, conf=0.94)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Pornpitakpan, 2004 source
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In the paper
“As can be seen in Table 4, none of these methodological factors moderated fear appeal effectiveness – within each factor, 95% CIs for each factor level overlap for all levels of all factors.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Moderator Tests
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In the paper
“The majority of samples (k = 170) included only one type of dependent measure (attitudes, intentions, or behaviors), but some samples included two types (k = 61) or all three (k = 17).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Coding of Outcomes (Effect Size Calculation)
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In the paper
“Based on the 71 samples that included such manipulation checks, fear appeals were generally successful at inducing experienced fear, such that treatment groups reported more fear than comparison groups, d = 1.00 (95% CI: [0.83, 1.18]), Q(70) = 697, I2 = 90.67, p < .0001.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Average Effect Size and Between-Effects Variability
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In the paper
“Of the 430 reports considered for inclusion in this meta-analysis, 127 met our inclusion criteria (9% unpublished), providing 248 statistically independent samples with a total N of 27,372 participants in the treatment and comparison groups combined.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Review and Inclusion Criteria
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- Rests on an assumption: The 248 samples included in the meta-analysis are statistically independent.
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In the paper
“The moderate depicted fear groups (total N = 1,626) were not included in other analyses”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Coding of Potential Moderators
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedn = 1,626Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
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In the paper
“Many fear appeals explicitly mention death (89 of the 248 studies in our meta-analysis)”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > The Recommended Behavior > Mentioning death, self-esteem relevance, and time delays
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In the paper
“Results showed a positive effect of fear appeals on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, with the average effect on a composite index being random-effects d¯ = 0.29.”
- Also stated in: § Abstract · plain
“Overall, we conclude that (a) fear appeals are effective at positively influencing attitude, intentions, and behaviors”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Abstract
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
- Also stated in: § Abstract · plain
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The meta-analysis included 127 papers (9% unpublished) yielding 248 independent samples (NTotal = 27,372) collected from diverse populations.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Abstract
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
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In the paper
“The combined effect size was d = −0.05 with a 95% CI of [−0.34, 0.24] and Q(20) = 154 (I2 = 92.89, p < .0001).”
- Also stated in: § Tests of message content hypotheses · plain
“Therefore, outcomes did not differ for groups exposed to moderate versus high depicted fear.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of message content hypotheses
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- Also stated in: § Tests of message content hypotheses · plain
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In the paper
“Cronbach’s alpha for the composite measure was .87, indicating that the three types of measures are highly internally consistent.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Coding of Outcomes (Effect Size Calculation)
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In the paper
“the number of samples with multiple attitude, intention, and behavior measures was respectively k = 18, k = 24, and k = 12”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Coding of Outcomes (Effect Size Calculation)
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
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In the paper
“Separate meta-regressions for each of these three variables revealed that none were related to fear appeal effectiveness: b = −0.0029 (SE = 0.0022, p = .18, 95% CI: [−0.0072, 0.0013]), b = −0.0046 (SE = 0.0039, p = .23, 95% CI: [−0.0122, 0.0030]), and b = 0.0000 (SE = 0.0002, p = .91, 95% CI: [−0.0003, 0.0003]), respectively for publication year, average age of sample, and sample size.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Moderator Tests
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In the paper
“However, it is worth noting that fear appeals were effective for both types of recommended behaviors, and they were simply more effective for one-time behaviors.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of the recommended behavior hypotheses
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In the paper
“The results did not support these predictions, as fear appeals were equally effective when they mentioned death and recommended a self-esteem hindering behavior (95% CI: [−0.41, 0.18]), did not mention death and recommended a self-esteem hindering behavior (95% CI: [0.00, 0.96]), mentioned death and recommended a self-esteem enhancing behavior (95% CI: [0.11, 0.67]), or did not mention death and”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of the recommended behavior hypotheses
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In the paper
“The 95% CIs confirmed this prediction and indicated that fear appeals high on both moderators had positive effects for attitudes (95% CI: [0.05, 0.38]), intentions (95% CI: [0.23, 0.47]), and behaviors (95% CI: [0.24, 0.63]).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of message content hypotheses
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In the paper
“When fear appeals mentioned death, they were equally effective for outcomes that occurred the same day (95% CI: [0.04, 0.27]), between one and fourteen days after fear appeal exposure (95% CI: [0.21, 1.37]), or more than fourteen days later (95% CI: [0.19, 0.51]).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of the recommended behavior hypotheses
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“The paucity of existing research addressing source characteristics and subjective experience led us to not include these as aspects of the current review framework, but they would be welcome additions in the future.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Future Directions
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In the paper
“As mentioned, organizing the existing literature under this framework highlights the relative dearth of research addressing the behavior and audience aspects of the model relative to the message aspect.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Future Directions
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In the paper
“Although most empirical studies simply do not measure participants’ subjective states, such measures could be very informative to test a variety of interesting questions.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Future Directions
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In the paper
“Similarly, when fear appeals did not mention death, they were equally effective for outcomes that occurred the same day (95% CI: [0.25, 0.44]), between one and fourteen days after fear appeal exposure (95% CI: [−0.29, 0.33]), or more than fourteen days later (95% CI: [0.03, 0.88]).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of the recommended behavior hypotheses
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In the paper
“The 95% CIs indicated that fear appeals that were only high in depicted susceptibility had positive effects for intentions (95% CI: [0.15, 0.59]) and behaviors (95% CI: [0.01, 0.88]) but not attitudes (95% CI: [−0.51, 1.47]).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of message content hypotheses
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“A number of the hypotheses that we substantiated are relatively agnostic concerning mechanisms, and this is a serious gap in the current fear appeal literature.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Future Directions
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In the paper
“Further, many fear appeals are delivered in the form of public service announcements, and thus there is relatively little variation across existing studies on this dimension.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Future Directions
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In the paper
“The 95% CIs indicated that fear appeals that were only high in depicted severity had positive effects for attitudes (95% CI: [0.06, 0.37]) and intentions (95% CI: [0.20, 0.39]) but not behaviors (95% CI: [−0.08, 0.42])”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of message content hypotheses
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“Specifically, the bulk of prior research on fear appeals has investigated questions about the message’s content – indeed, of the prior meta-analyses on fear appeals, all of them addressed questions related to the message’s content while overlooking questions related to the recommended behavior and audience.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > A Message-Behavior-Audience Framework of Fear Appeals
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In the paper
“We also conducted moderated meta-regressions to analyze all moderator variables; the results were the same as the 95% CI analyses and are thus not presented here.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Moderator Tests
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In the paper
“We conducted all analyses using random- and fixed-effects analyses. As both types of analyses produced comparable results, we present the random-effects analyses.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results
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In the paper
“When a study included more than one potential comparison groups, we opted to compare the highest depicted fear condition with the lowest depicted fear condition, prioritizing them in the following order: No message comparison group, neutral message comparison group, and low depicted fear comparison group.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Review and Inclusion Criteria
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In the paper
“As most studies did not specifically measure this variable, we designed a conservative coding scheme to ensure we could include the maximum number of reports in this analysis while avoiding misclassifications.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Coding of Potential Moderators
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In the paper
“Specifically, to ensure that the test concerned high depicted fear versus moderate depicted fear, we only included studies with at least three levels of depicted fear.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of message content hypotheses
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In the paper
“Thus, the present research represents the first meta-analytic test for nine of the 16 hypotheses and the first meta-analytic test for any hypotheses related to the behavior and audience aspects of our framework.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > The Present Research
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In the paper
“Of the 16 fear appeal hypotheses discussed, only seven have been tested in prior meta-analyses, and all of them fall under the message aspect of our framework (Table 1).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > The Present Research
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In the paper
“This finding may have implications for practitioners using fear appeals - i.e., once a message depicts moderate fear, there is no value in depicting additional fear, but depicting additional fear will not lead to negative effects.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of message content hypotheses
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In the paper
“Studies were included if they measured one or more of the following variables as an outcome in both the treatment and comparison groups: Attitudes, intentions, or behaviors.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Review and Inclusion Criteria
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In the paper
“whereas messages with high depicted susceptibility positively influenced intentions and behaviors but not attitudes.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > The Content of Fear Appeals > Depicted susceptibility and severity
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites de Hoog et al., 2007
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
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- Not matched
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In the paper
“Therefore, fear appeals have a significant and positive effect on outcomes. That is, relative to participants in comparison groups, participants in treatment groups (i.e., those exposed to relatively high levels of depicted fear) had attitudes, intentions, and behaviors that were more in line with the position advocated by the fear appeal.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Average Effect Size and Between-Effects Variability
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In the paper
“However, to our knowledge, this is the largest and most valid test of the linear and curvilinear hypotheses to date.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of message content hypotheses
Strength:hedged· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“The rank correlation was r = −.02, p = .67. Thus, there is no evidence of retrieval or inclusion bias.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Distribution of Effect Sizes
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Begg & Mazumdar, 1994 source
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“As can be seen in the figure, the distribution appears quite symmetric with smaller variability toward the top of the plot.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Distribution of Effect Sizes
Load-bearingStrength:hedged· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one. The quote only partly states this claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The results clearly support the weak efficacy hypothesis and disconfirm the strong efficacy hypothesis. Thus, fear appeals are effective with or without efficacy statements, but the inclusion of efficacy statements is associated with increased effectiveness.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of message content hypotheses
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“The linear and curvilinear models have been tested in prior meta-analyses, and the linear model has consistently been supported by existing data, whereas the curvilinear model has not (e.g., Witte & Allen, 2000).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > The Content of Fear Appeals > Amount of depicted fear
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Witte & Allen, 2000 source
Load-bearingStrength:boosted· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This decision allowed for a more stringent test of TMT hypotheses, and provided an even distribution of death versus non-death conditions, which avoids the potential confound of death messages always being about more severe topics than non-death messages.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Coding of Potential Moderators
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Studies were included if they contained an experimental research design in which a treatment group was exposed to a message designed to induce fear (i.e., a fear appeal).Studies were included if they contained a comparison group.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Review and Inclusion Criteria
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Specifically, messages with high depicted severity positively influenced attitudes, intentions, and behaviors”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > The Content of Fear Appeals > Depicted susceptibility and severity
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites de Hoog et al., 2007
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Overall, all results should be interpreted as the effect of exposure to messages designed to depict relatively high levels of fear compared to conditions designed to depict relatively lower levels of fear (including no fear).5”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Review and Inclusion Criteria
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
In the paper
“As can be seen from Figure 3, the effect sizes followed a straight line and generally fell within the 95% confidence interval of the normality line, and thus there is no evidence of retrieval or inclusion bias.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Distribution of Effect Sizes
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Wang & Bushman, 1999
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Studies were excluded if they did not contain appropriate statistics (e.g., F ratios, means and standard deviations, frequencies, or exact p values) for calculating an effect size representing the difference of outcomes for treatment versus comparison groups.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Review and Inclusion Criteria
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Further, the distribution of effect sizes appears to be roughly continuous and normal, which indicates a lack of inclusion bias.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Distribution of Effect Sizes
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Although some meta-analytic examinations have found positive effects of fear appeals on some outcomes (Witte & Allen, 2000), others have found null effects (de Hoog et al., 2007) or even negative effects (Peters et al., 2012).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Witte & Allen, 2000 source
- Not matchedcites de Hoog et al., 2007
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Peters et al., 2012
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Agreement for all variables was good: Categorical variables had average κ = .93 (SD = .06, minimum = .80), and continuous variables had average r = .92 (SD = .12, minimum = .73).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Coding of Potential Moderators
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Studies were included if they experimentally manipulated depicted fear across groups.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Methods > Review and Inclusion Criteria
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Second, drawing on our previous distinction between fear appeals and fear, the subjective experience of the message recipient should be an important aspect of fear appeal communications.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Future Directions
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✗ Checkable: fails✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Finally, the lack of subjective fear measures makes it difficult for researchers interested in the effects of fear (rather than fear appeals) to investigate relevant hypotheses meta-analytically.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Limitations
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“based on a well-established body of literature in persuasion demonstrating that aspects of a message’s source can influence the persuasiveness of the message (Briñol & Petty, 2009; Kumkale et al., 2010; Pornpitakpan, 2004; Wilson & Sherrell, 1993), the source of a fear appeal communication should be an important moderator for fear appeal effectiveness.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Future Directions
Strength:boosted· not yet calibratedCausal:correlational· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Rather, fear appeals consistently work, and through our meta-analysis we were able to identify various factors that can enhance their effectiveness to make them work even better.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Although some of the theories investigated do discuss mechanism to some degree (e.g., EPPM; Witte, 1992), our updated review of the literature is consistent with conclusions from prior reviews that these mechanisms are often under-studied and are in need of additional research (e.g., Popova, 2012).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Future Directions
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Popova, 2012 source
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Specifically, to test hypotheses related to TMT, studies were coded as either containing the word death or not.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Limitations
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, meta-analyses are a correlational research design, and thus many of the moderator analyses we conducted should be interpreted with this in mind.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Future Directions
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, some studies did not include full texts for fear appeal messages, and thus it is possible that some messages did contain the word death but were nonetheless coded as not containing this word (however, studies were only coded as containing the word death if a portion of the message’s text was available that showed this word).”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Limitations
Strength:hedged· not yet calibratedCausal:conditional· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The present meta-analysis only included experimental studies that compared treatment and comparison groups, and thus internal validity is good when considering the effects of relatively high versus low depicted fear.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Future Directions
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Thus, when testing all three hypotheses, fear appeals generally had positive effects on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors when they were high in depicted severity and/or susceptibility.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > Results > Tests of message content hypotheses
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“First, as discussed in the introduction, the present results concern fear appeals rather than fear. That is, our meta-analysis did not compare people who were subjectively afraid to people who were subjectively unafraid, but rather we compared groups that were exposed to more or less fear inducing content.”
§ Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories > General Discussion > Limitations
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
The paper relies on this without support.
The 248 samples included in the meta-analysis are statistically independent.
“providing 248 statistically independent samples”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Results from a comprehensive meta-analysis by Tannenbaum et al. [35] showed that fear appeals are particularly effective at positively influencing attitudes, intentions, and behaviour under specific circumstances.”
From Misinformation lingers in memory: Failure of three pro-vaccination strategies (2017) · cites this paper as [35]
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Items 401–500 of 1,183
Marschalkó, E. E., Kotta, I., Kálcza-Jánosi, K., Szabo, K., & Farcas, S. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.596543 · Cited by 12
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“Threatening messages have proven useful in other contexts (i.e., fear appeals; Tannenbaum et al., 2015).”
BackgroundNowicki, S., Bukachi, S. A., Hoque, S. F., Katuva, J., Musyoka, M. M., Sammy, M. M., Mwaniki, M., Omia, D. O., Wambua, F. M., & Charles, K. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19010597 · Cited by 16
“They are used extensively for public health messaging and the fear appeals literature, which has developed over 7 decades, offers varied views on the persuasiveness and optimal design of appeals on a range of topics including the management of domestic and wider environmental exposures [1].”
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“This finding is consistent with meta-analyses demonstrating the positive effect of fear appeals on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors (Tannenbaum et al. 2015; Witte and Allen 2000), as well as its prevalence in the broader advertising landscape (Poels and Dewitte 2019).”
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Faire « appel à la peur » pour persuader ? Revue de la littérature et perspectives de recherche
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“This finding aligns with previous research indicating that fear-based messages that promote self-efficacy can effectively motivate safety behaviors (Tannenbaum et al., 2015).”
ResultEvaluating Cigarette Pack Insert Messages with Tips to Quit
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“In the work done by Tannenbaum and colleagues [47], it is found that fear appeals consistently work and are e ff ective.”
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Hameed, M. A., & Arachchilage, N. A. G. (2019) · International Journal of Computer Network and Information Security · doi:10.5815/ijcnis.2019.04.02 · Cited by 11
“A fear appeal is a persuasive message that attempts to arouse fear in order to divert behaviour through the threat of impending danger [49].”
BackgroundLacoste‐Badie, S., Gallopel‐Morvan, K., Lajante, M., & Droulers, O. (2019) · Journal of Consumer Marketing · doi:10.1108/jcm-01-2017-2051 · Cited by 11
Meadows, C. Z., Meadows, C. W., & Tang, L. (2020) · Communication Studies · doi:10.1080/10510974.2020.1819839 · Cited by 11
“A more recent meta-analysis echoed the earlier findings, concluding that fear appeals can positively influence attitude, intentions, and behaviors (Tannenbaum et al., 2015).”
BackgroundResultBorthwick, C., O’Connor, R. C., & Kennedy, L. (2020) · Psychology and Health · doi:10.1080/08870446.2020.1846038 · Cited by 11
“However, recent reviews have found limited support for the use of fear-appeal interventions in improving vaccination coverage (Tannenbaum et al., 2015).”
BackgroundLillie, H. M., Pokharel, M., John, K. K., Christy, K. R., Upshaw, S. J., Giorgi, E. A., & Jensen, J. D. (2021) · Psychology and Health · doi:10.1080/08870446.2021.1873337 · Cited by 12
Benoit, I. D., Miller, E. G., Kordrostami, E., & Ekebas‐Turedi, C. (2021) · Journal of Social Marketing · doi:10.1108/jsocm-06-2020-0103 · Cited by 11
Li, Y., Hughes, A., & Howe, P. D. (2021) · Weather Climate and Society · doi:10.1175/wcas-d-20-0039.1 · Cited by 11
Ratz, T., & Lippke, S. (2021) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-818697-8.00068-6 · Cited by 13
Anthony, K. E., Bagley, B. H., Petrun, E. L., & Bright, C. F. (2021) · Atlantic Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/15456870.2021.1981329 · Cited by 11
Ort, A., & Fahr, A. (2021) · Health Psychology Review · doi:10.1080/17437199.2021.1988866 · Cited by 14
Rasool, S., Cerchione, R., Centobelli, P., & Oropallo, E. (2021) · Environment Development and Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s10668-021-01741-1 · Cited by 11
“Fear-based advertising is effective in lowering consumer smoking and littering (Tannenbaum et al., 2015).”
BackgroundOlamijuwon, E. O., Odimegwu, C. O., & Adjiwanou, V. (2021) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-021-12165-x · Cited by 11
“Most importantly, future studies are needed to explicate whether the level of engagement with fear-based sexual health information on social media are correlated with the perceived efficacy and if such messages motivate significant behavioural changes as demonstrated in the theories of fear-based [90, 95].”
BackgroundInfluentialTait, M., Abrahams, J., Brehm, R. H., Baum, L. M., Fowler, E. F., Niederdeppe, J., & Gollust, S. E. (2022) · Preventive Medicine Reports · doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.101971 · Cited by 12
“(Tannenbaum et al., 2015; Noar et al., 2016).”
Text-Mining and Video Analytics of COVID-19 Narratives Shared by Patients on YouTube
Chandrasekaran, R., Konaraddi, K., Sharma, S. S., & Moustakas, E. (2024) · Journal of Medical Systems · doi:10.1007/s10916-024-02047-1 · Cited by 11
“Even outside of social media environments, research has demonstrated that fear appeals can influence attitudes, intentions, and behaviors [54 ]. delving into government narratives exhibit reduced views (Exp(B) = 0.34, p < .001), likes (Exp(B) = 0.26, p < .001), and comments (Exp(B) = 0.26, p <…”
InfluentialSeeing an apocalyptic post-antibiotic future lowers antibiotics expectations and requests
Sirota, M., & Juanchich, M. (2024) · Communications Medicine · doi:10.1038/s43856-024-00567-y · Cited by 11
D’Antoni, D., Auyeung, V., & Weinman, J. A. (2019) · Journal of Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10810730.2019.1631914 · Cited by 12
“Evidence has shown that health behaviors seem to occur when people have both a high perception of the threat and a high efficacy perception (both self-efficacy and response efficacy) (Tannenbaum et al., 2015; Witte, 1992), as well as a low perception of side effects (Sheeran et al.”
BackgroundMain, K., & Darke, P. R. (2019) · Journal of Public Policy & Marketing · doi:10.1177/0743915619829730 · Cited by 11
“Whereas past research has provided evidence of both patterns for the effects of threat level on responses to the focal product, the most recent evidence seems to favor a more linear relationship (Tannenbaum et al. 2015).”
BackgroundMethodNewby, K. V., Varnes, L., Yorke, E., Meisel, S. F., & Fisher, A. (2019) · British Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjhp.12400 · Cited by 12
Lee, J. (2020) · The Social Science Journal · doi:10.1080/03623319.2020.1727248 · Cited by 11
“…many studies have found the significant role of efficacy in intervening the relationship between fear-appeals and health-related behaviors such that fear appeals increase health-promoting behaviors when the messages contain efficacy statements; see Tannenbaum et al. (2015) for meta-analysis.”
BackgroundMacFarlane, D., Hurlstone, M. J., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2020) · Psychology and Health · doi:10.1080/08870446.2020.1774056 · Cited by 11
“The critical elements of this condition were based on a systematic review of fear appeals by Tannenbaum et al. (2015), who argued that in order to be effective, fear appeals need to (i) depict high health severity, (ii) depict high susceptibility of the target audience, and (iii) include a…”
BackgroundMethodCritical and Qualitative Approaches to Behavior Change
Chamberlain, K., & Lyons, A. C. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108677318.030 · Cited by 13
The Science of Behavior Change: The Road Ahead
Hagger, M. S., Cameron, L. D., Hamilton, K., Hankonen, N. E., & Lintunen, T. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108677318.046 · Cited by 13
Reis, E. S., Arriaga, P., & Moleiro, C. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01450 · Cited by 12
Gold, N., Egan, M., Londáková, K., Mottershaw, A. L., Harper, H., Burton, R., Henn, C., Smolar, M., Walmsley, M., Arambepola, R., et al. (2020) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/add.15327 · Cited by 11
“Furthermore, although the average participant in our experiment spent approximately 60 seconds reviewing the various example labels, we know from laboratory studies that people pay little attention to alcohol health warnings or responsible drinking statements [29,36], and we expect that they would pay even less attent…”
BackgroundThe development of a digital intervention to increase influenza vaccination amongst pregnant women
Parsons, J., Newby, K. V., French, D., Bailey, E. A., & Inglis, N. J. (2021) · Digital Health · doi:10.1177/20552076211012128 · Cited by 10
Guignard, R., Gallopel‐Morvan, K., Mons, U., Hummel, K., & Nguyen‐Thanh, V. (2018) · Tobacco Control · doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-053936 · Cited by 11
From Russia with fear: fear appeals and the patterns of cyber-enabled influence operations
Etudo, U., Whyte, C., Yoon, V., & Yaraghi, N. (2023) · Journal of Cybersecurity · doi:10.1093/cybsec/tyad016 · Cited by 11
Mazengia, E. M., Kassie, A., Zewdie, A., Tesfa, H., Aschale, A., & Demissie, G. D. (2023) · Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives · doi:10.1016/j.trip.2023.101011 · Cited by 10
Eze, E. I., Petersen, M., & Siegmund, A. (2024) · International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction · doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104599 · Cited by 10
Jheng, Y.-L., de Cruys, S. V., Brabandere, L. D., Maertens, K., & Poels, K. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-98709-2 · Cited by 11
“Harm-stressing messages that emphasize harmful consequences can increase awareness of health risks 31 .”
Fecher‐Jones, I., Ainsworth, B., Gan, T. J., Moonesinghe, R., Shaw, A., Grocott, M. P. W., & Levett, D. Z. H. (2025) · Anaesthesia · doi:10.1111/anae.16648 · Cited by 10
“Receiving this knowledge is also likely to help motivate patients towards making behaviour changes [74].”
Maximizing User Engagement with Behavior Change Interventions
Yardley, L., Morrison, L. G., Müller, I., & Bradbury, K. J. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108677318.025 · Cited by 11
Autonomy-Supportive Interventions
Reeve, J., & Cheon, S. H. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108677318.035 · Cited by 13
Stölzel, F., Wolff, M., Fieber, V., Glausch, M., Wachs, C., Breitbart, E. W., Bornhäuser, M., & Seidel, N. (2020) · Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1186/s12199-020-00872-7 · Cited by 10
Valdez, L. A., & Garcia, D. O. (2020) · International Quarterly of Community Health Education · doi:10.1177/0272684x20982598 · Cited by 10
“Fear appeal is based on the premise that showing people the negative health consequences of health-endangering behaviors will raise awareness of risk behaviors and effectively lead to health promoting behaviors.(21) Participants of our formative work pointed to their perceived need to be exposed to the potential conse…”
BackgroundPark, J. P., Son, J.-Y., & Suh, K.-S. (2021) · Internet Research · doi:10.1108/intr-01-2021-0065 · Cited by 13
Zhang, D., Fan, M., Meng, L., & Zheng, X. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1010767 · Cited by 12
“News reports and official propaganda, which emphasize the transmission ability of the virus and the serious consequences of infection, and which aim to remind people to pay attention to daily epidemic prevention, may cause fear (Tannenbaum et al., 2015; Pakpour and Griffiths, 2020), especially for the vulnerable.”
BackgroundFighting Fire or Fighting War: Examining the Framing Effects of COVID-19 Metaphors
Tao, R., Kim, S. J., Lu, L., Kang, J.-W., & McLeod, D. M. (2023) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2023.2253398 · Cited by 12
“Negative emotions in response to threat information presented in health messaging motivate pro-health behaviors, though excessive negative emotions paired with low efficacy perceptions could result in unintended effects (Tannenbaum et al., 2015; Witte & Allen, 2000).”
Principles of Effective Message Design: A Review and Model of Content and Format Features
Cappella, J. N., & Li, Y. (2023) · Asian Communication Research · doi:10.20879/acr.2023.20.023 · Cited by 14
“While they have been found to have consistent positive effects on attitudes and behavioral intentions (Tannenbaum et al., 2015), fear appeals are inconsistently effective for behaviors (Carey et al., 2013; Tannenbaum et al., 2015).”
BackgroundMeningococcal disease in Italy: public concern, media coverage and policy change
Covolo, L., Croce, E., Moneda, M., et al. (2019) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-019-7426-5 · Cited by 10
A Comparison of Metaphor Modality and Appeals in the Context of Skin Cancer Prevention
Occa, A., Kim, S. Y., Carcioppolo, N., et al. (2019) · Journal of Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10810730.2019.1694607 · Cited by 10
“Examples of such factors may be motivation and involvement with the topic, which would also help to explain the interaction effect with the appeal (Tannenbaum et al., 2015), or the pleasure experienced by the individuals when receiving the message (Van Stee et al.”
BackgroundDisclosure of New Type 2 Diabetes Diagnoses to Younger Adults: a Qualitative Study
Gopalan, A., Blatchins, M. A., Altschuler, A., Mishra, P., Fakhouri, I., & Grant, R. W. (2021) · Journal of General Internal Medicine · doi:10.1007/s11606-020-06481-y · Cited by 14
Ort, A., Siegenthaler, P., & Fahr, A. (2021) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2021.534496 · Cited by 12
Desired attitudes guide actual attitude change
Vaughan-Johnston, T., Fabrigar, L., Xia, J., DeMarree, K. G., & Clark, J. K. (2023) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104437 · Cited by 9
COVID-19: the relationship between perceptions of risk and behaviours during lockdownPreprint
Brown, R. D., Coventry, L., & Pepper, G. V. (2020) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/dwjvy · Cited by 10
Adams, D. R., Ratcliff, C. L., Pokharel, M., Jensen, J. D., & Liao, Y. (2023) · Risk Analysis · doi:10.1111/risa.14256 · Cited by 9
“Consistent with this critique, Tannenbaum et al. (2015) lamented the absence of data demonstrating that fear appeals impact outcomes via fear: “Although many fear appeal theories discuss fear, empirical studies typically test the impact of fear appeal messages on outcomes, and subsequently infer…”
Mah, A. Y. J., & Song, E. Y. (2024) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su16072779 · Cited by 9
Yao, L., Ngai, C. S. B., Singh, R. G., & Chen, F. (2024) · Journal of Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10810730.2024.2378338 · Cited by 9
“Research suggests that an optimal effect of fear appeal is achieved when both threat and efficacy are strong (Tannenbaum et al., 2015; Witte & Allen, 2000), consistent across different media platforms (Chen & Yang, 2018).”
Miller, L. B. (2025) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su17072832 · Cited by 15
Mayer, J., Zainuddin, N., Russell‐Bennett, R., & Mulcahy, R. F. (2019) · Journal of Service Theory and Practice · doi:10.1108/jstp-11-2017-0196 · Cited by 9
Lu, H. (2020) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2019.1582313 · Cited by 5
“In contrast to the popular view that emotions often tamper with rational decision making, accumulating evidence has supported the critical role emotions play in improving attitudes, intentions and behaviors in health contexts (Ferrer, Klein, Lerner, Reyna, & Keltner, 2016; Tannenbaum et al., 2015).”
ResultEffect of Extraneous Affect on Health Message Reception
Takahashi, K., & Earl, A. N. (2019) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167219855042 · Cited by 9
“messages (yielding; Tannenbaum et al., 2015), but are less likely to select or attend to these emotionally evocative messages (reception; Derricks & Earl, 2019; Earl & Albarracín, 2007; Earl et al.”
BackgroundConcrete Messages Increase Healthy Eating Preferences
Balcetis, E., Manivannan, M., & Cox, E. B. (2020) · European Journal of Investigation in Health Psychology and Education · doi:10.3390/ejihpe10020049 · Cited by 9
“Likewise, another meta-analytic review found that fear appeals, which encourage people to avoid the negative consequences that failing to exercise might induce [9,10], increased individuals’ adherence to doctor recommendations when compared to exposure to no messages, to a message that was not designed to induce fear,…”
BackgroundRosier, J. G., & Cassels, T. G. (2020) · Journal of Family Issues · doi:10.1177/0192513x20949891 · Cited by 9
“…logical arguments, and recipients who were eager— and many times desperate—for a solution to a problem that negatively impacts their daily lives), research has shown fear appeals to be quite effective at changing attitudes, intentions, and behaviors (see Tannenbaum et al., 2015, for a review).”
BackgroundPoggiolini, C. (2020) · Studies in Communication and Media · doi:10.5771/2192-4007-2020-3-421 · Cited by 9
“Although Tannenbaum et al. (2015) suggest that medium and high fear appeals are successful in increasing the perceived threat, according to Maloney, Lapinski, and Witte (2011) there is no guarantee that fear appeals will be effective in doing so.”
BackgroundDeters, F. G., Meier, T., Milek, A., & Horn, A. B. (2021) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/29268 · Cited by 9
“This boomerang effects can be tested by including curvilinear associations in the analysis [38-40].”
BackgroundOh, J., & Hwang, A. H. (2021) · Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media · doi:10.1080/08838151.2021.1999958 · Cited by 9
“Given that the level of fear arousal induced by news articles would be relatively moderate, we expect to find a positive effect of fear on preventive intentions (Dillard, Li, Huang et al., 2017; Dillard, Li, Meczkowski et al., 2017; Shen, 2017; Tannenbaum et al., 2015).”
BackgroundCovid-19 Fobisi (Korkusu), Covid-19 Farkındalığı ve Genel Aidiyetleri Düzeyleri
Kurtuluş, E., & Düşünceli, B. (2021) · Üsküdar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi · doi:10.32739/uskudarsbd.7.13.96 · Cited by 11
Epstein, R., & Zankich, V. R. (2022) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0263097 · Cited by 11
Fairlamb, S., Cinnirella, M., & Iahr, I. (2022) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/jasp.12903 · Cited by 8
“Indeed, one can draw comparisons to research on fear appeals which suggests that they are more effective in producing behavioral intentions when they are accompanied by efficacy statements (e.g., Tannenbaum et al., 2015).”
BackgroundKim, H. J., & Shin, W. (2017) · Asian Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/01292986.2017.1384030 · Cited by 9
“A meta-analysis of fear appeal studies (Tannenbaum et al., 2015) shows that the effectiveness of fear appeals is a function of various message and audience factors.”
BackgroundImplementation Science and Translation in Behavior Change
Łuszczyńska, A., Łobczowska, K., & Horodyska, K. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108677318.023 · Cited by 10
Elshiekh, H. F., de Vries, H., & Hoving, C. (2021) · SAHARA-J Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS · doi:10.1080/17290376.2021.2011390 · Cited by 9
“Parallel to previous research (Green & Witte, 2006; Tannenbaum et al., 2015), our findings suggested that participants` experience with people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) could increase their fear of contracting HIV and thus influence their sexual behaviour.”
ResultSchuetz, S. W., Lowry, P. B., Pienta, D., et al. (2020) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3718606 · Cited by 9
Comparison of Fear of COVID-19 in Medical and Nonmedical Personnel in a Public Hospital in MexicoPreprint
Barbosa-Camacho, F. J., García-Reyna, B., Cervantes-Cardona, G. A., Cervantes-Pérez, E., Chavarria-Avila, E., Pintor‐Belmontes, K. J., Guzmán-Ramírez, B. G., Hernández-Bernal, A., Ibarrola-Peña, J. C., Fuentes-Orozco, C., et al. (2020) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-37662/v1 · Cited by 9
Influencing Climate Change Attitudes in the United States: A Systematic Review and Meta-AnalysisPreprint
Rode, J. B., Dent, A. L., Benedict, C. N., Brosnahan, D., Martinez, R. L., & Ditto, P. H. (2020) · OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/bjen5 · Cited by 11
Metadata
- Authors
- Tannenbaum, M. B., Hepler, J., Zimmerman, R. S., Saul, L., Jacobs, S., Wilson, K., & Albarracín, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- University of Nevada, Reno (US)
- University of Missouri–St. Louis (US)
- Virginia Commonwealth University (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 2015-11
- Volume
- 141
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1178-1204
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- PMC
- PMC5789790
- OpenAlex
- W2238586764
- Semantic Scholar
- 7940c739aafad42be93bddeda83667a658986963
- Cited by
- 1,315
- References
- 203
- Citations by year
- 2026: 148 · 2025: 149 · 2024: 138 · 2023: 124 · 2022: 134 · 2021: 192 · 2020: 203 · 2019: 78 · 2018: 78 · 2017: 48 · 2016: 21
- FWCI
- 5.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Sponsor name not included (R01 MH094241, R01 NR08325, and R56 AI114501)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Risk Perception and Management
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Influence and Health
- Keywords
- fear appeals, attitude change, behavioral intention, risk communication, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, message framing
- MeSH terms
- Attitude, Behavior, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Models, Psychological, Persuasive Communication, Risk Factors, Intention
About these checks
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