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Cited by 637

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 20 of the 20 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Scary warnings and rational precautions: A review of the psychology of fear appeals

Open access
Ruiter, Robert A.C., Abraham, Charles, Kok, Gerjo·2001·Psychology & Health
DOI 10.1080/08870440108405863
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Abstract

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.

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Metadata

Authors
Ruiter, R. A. C., Abraham, C., & Kok, G.
Venue
Psychology & Health
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2001-11
Volume
16
Issue
6
Pages
613-630
ISSN
  • 0887-0446 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-8321
DOI
10.1080/08870440108405863
OpenAlex
W1989205184
Cited by
637
References
20
FWCI
7.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Scary warnings and rational precautions: A review of the psychology of fear appeals. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1080/08870440108405863
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Ruiter, R. A. C., Abraham, C., & Kok, G. (2001). Scary warnings and rational precautions: A review of the psychology of fear appeals. Psychology & Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870440108405863

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.