Addressing the Texting and Driving Epidemic: Mortality Salience Priming Effects on Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions
Open accessAbstract
Texting while driving is becoming a problem of epidemic proportion, causing thousands of fatalities each year. However, surprisingly few academic studies to date have examined this issue in a social marketing context. We address this research void by reporting the findings of two empirical studies—the first, an exploratory study of drivers' perceptions of texting while driving; the second, an experimental examination of the relative effectiveness of mortality salience (MS) primes in public service announcements (PSAs). Employing theory derived from the MS literature, we find that when verbal and/or visual cues to death/dying were used, participants' attitudes and behavioral intentions were altered in a positive direction. As compared to a control group, the primed PSAs produced less favorable attitudes and reduced intentions to text while driving in the future. Implications of these findings for consumers, social marketers, and policymakers are discussed, and future research directions are provided.
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Reminding consumers of their own mortality strengthens the impact of fear-based emotional appeals on consumers' attitudes and behaviors.
“One method through which the impact of fear‐based emotional appeals on consumers' attitudes and behaviors is strengthened is by reminding consumers of their own mortality (Kareklas & Muehling, 2014).”
From “The greedy I that gives”—The paradox of egocentrism and altruism: Terror management and system justification perspectives on the interrelationship between mortality salience and charitable donations amid the <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 pandemic (2022) · cites this paper as Kareklas & Muehling, 2014
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Appealing to fear: A meta-analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories
Tannenbaum, M. B., Hepler, J., Zimmerman, R. S., Saul, L., Jacobs, S., Wilson, K., & Albarracín, D. (2015) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0039729 · Cited by 1,203 · see citing works
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- Authors
- KAREKLAS, I., & MUEHLING, D. D.
- Affiliations
- Washington State University (US)
- ORCID
- KAREKLAS, IOANNIS
- Venue
- Journal of Consumer Affairs
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-05-16
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 223-250
- ISSN
- 0022-0078 (ISSN-L)
- 1745-6606
- OpenAlex
- W2076358644
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 3.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Consumer Affairs (publishedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Media Influence and Health
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality › Traffic and Road Safety
- Keywords
- texting while driving, mortality salience, priming, public service announcements, social marketing, behavioral intention
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