Abstract
Abstract. Psychological reactance and related defensive processes have been long cited as an explanation for failure of fear appeal messages. The overwhelming majority of studies on fear and reactance have only examined the intensity of fear from a between-individuals perspective, in which individuals who have higher peak fear are predicted to experience stronger levels of psychological reactance. Recent development in the fear appeal research suggests an alternative perspective: Psychological reactance is activated when fear is aroused but not reduced within each individual; on the other hand, psychological reactance is mitigated or inhibited when fear is aroused and then reduced. Empirical data from a quasi-experimental study using graphic tobacco warning labels are used to test and compare the two approaches to studying the relationship between fear and psychological reactance. Implications for psychological reactance and fear appeal are discussed.
References
2010). Fear patterns: A new approach to designing road safety advertisements. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 38, 264–279. doi: 10.1080/10852352.2010.509019
(1998).
(Forewarning and persuasion . In M. AllenR. W. PreissEds., Persuasion: Advances through meta-analysis (pp. 139–154). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.2013). Reactance, restoration, and cognitive structure: Comparative statistics. Human Communication Research, 39, 339–364. doi: 10.1111/hcre.12007
(1989). Structural equations with latent variables. New York, NY: Wiley.
(2006). Latent curve models: A structural equation perspective. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
(1984).
(Fear-arousing persuasive messages . In R. N. BostromEd., Communication yearbook 8 (pp. 330–375). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.1966). A theory of psychological reactance. New York, NY: Academic Press.
(2009). Affect as a motivational state. Cognition and Emotion, 23, 1069–1089. doi: 10.1080/02699930802323642
(1981). Psychological reactance: A theory of freedom and control. New York, NY: Academic Press.
(1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(2000). Long-term effects of language intensity in preventive messages on planned family solar protection. Health Communication, 12, 262–275. doi: 10.1207/S15327027HC1203_03
(2002). Using interactive media tools to test substance abuse prevention messages. In Mass media and drug prevention: Classic and contemporary theories and research (pp. 67–87). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2002).
(Revisiting the theory of psychological reactance: Communicating threats to attitudinal freedom . In J. P. DillardM. PfauEds., The persuasion handbook: Developments in theory and practice (pp. 213–232). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.2011). Gain- and loss-frame sun safety messages and psychological reactance adolescence. Communication Research Reports, 28, 308–317. doi: 10.1080/08824096.2011.616242
(1995). Guilt appeals in advertising: What are their effects? Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 697–705.
(2007). Impact of vulnerability to severity of a health risk on processing and acceptance of fear-arousing communications: A meta-analysis. Review of General Psychology, 11, 258–285. doi: 10.1037/1089-2680.11.3.258
(in press). Fear responses to threat appeals: Functional form, methodological considerations, and correspondence between static and dynamic data. Communication Research.
(1996). The multiple affective outcomes of AIDS PSAs: Fear appeals do more than scare people. Communication Research, 23, 44–72. doi: 10.1177/009365096023001002
(2005). On the nature of reactance and its role in persuasive health communication. Communication Monographs, 72, 144–168. doi: 10.1080/03637750500111815
(2007). Does perceived message effectiveness cause persuasion or vice versa? 17 consistent answers. Human Communication Research, 33, 467–488. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00308.x
(1998). “Fear-then-relief” procedure for producing compliance: Beware when the danger is over. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 34, 27–50. doi: 10.1006/jesp.1997.1341
(2007). Nature, decay, and spiral of the effects of fear-inducing arguments and HIV counseling and testing: A meta-analysis of the short- and long-term outcomes of HIV-prevention interventions. Health Psychology, 26, 496–506. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.26.4.496
(1990). Reaching those at risk: A content analytic study of AIDS PSAs. Communication Research, 6, 775–791. doi: 10.1177/009365096023001002
(1959). The relationship between coping and avoiding behavior and response to fear arousing propaganda. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58, 247–252. doi: 10.1037/h0044492
(2006).
(Using latent growth curve models to evaluate longitudinal change . In G. R. HancockR. O. MuellerEds., Structural equation modeling: A second course (pp. 171–186). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.1953). Communication and persuasion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
(1967).
(Effects of fear arousal on attitude change: Recent developments in theory and research . In L. BerkowitzEd., Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 3, pp. 167–222). New York, NY: Academic Press.1953). Effects of fear-arousing communications. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 48, 78–92. doi: 10.1037/h0060732
(1962). An experimental study of psychological resistances to fear arousing communications. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 65, 403–410. doi: 10.1037/h0047601
(2013). Explaining the process of resistance to persuasion: A politeness theory-based approach. Communication Research, 40, 559–590. doi: 10.1177/0093650211420136
(2005). Less directiveness by therapists improves drinking outcomes of reactant clients in alcoholism treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73(2), 262–267. doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.73.2.262
(1991). Emotion and adaptation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
(1966). Sources of resistance to fear-arousing communications on smoking and lung cancer. Journal of Personality, 34, 155–175. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1966.tb01706.x
(2010). Response efficacy: The key to minimizing rejection and maximizing acceptance of emotion-based anti-speeding messages. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 42, 459–467. doi: 10.1016/j. aap. 2009.09.008
(2007). Psychological reactance and promotional health messages: The effects of controlling language, lexical concreteness, and the restoration of freedom. Human Communication Research, 33, 219–240. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00297.x
(2006). Reactance theory – 40 years later. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 37, 9–18. doi: 10.1024/0044-3514.37.1.3
(1998).
(Another look at fear-arousing persuasive appeals . In M. AllenR. W. PressEds., Persuasion: Advances through meta-analysis (pp. 53–68). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.2013).
(Fear appeals . In J. P. DillardL. ShenEds., The handbook of persuasion (2nd edn., pp. 184–199). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.2005). Motivating women and men to take protective action against rape: Examining direct and indirect persuasive fear appeals. Health Communication, 18, 237–256. doi: 10.1207/s15327027hc1803_3
(2010). Explaining the persuasive effects of narrative in an entertainment television program: Overcoming resistance to persuasion. Human Communication Research, 36, 25–51. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01367.x
(2012). Threatening communication: A critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory. Health Psychology Review, 7(suppl. 1), S8–S31. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2012.703527
(2001). On the use of college students in social science research: Insights from a second-order meta-analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 28, 450–461. doi: 10.1086/323732
(1997).
(Inoculation model of resistance to influence . In G. A. BarnettF. J. BosterEds., Progress in communication studies: Advances in persuasion (Vol. 13, pp. 133–171). Greenwich, CT: Ablex.1991). Guilt appeals in advertising: An exploratory study. Psychological Reports, 69, 375–385. doi: 10.2466/pr0.1991.69.2.375
(2012). The extended parallel process model: Illuminating the gaps in research. Health Education and Behavior, 39, 455–473. doi: 10.1177/1090198111418108
(2013).
(Reactance . In J. P. DillardL. ShenEds., The persuasion handbook: Developments in theory and practice (2nd ed., pp. 167–183). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.2007). Further evidence that psychological reactance can be modeled as a combination of anger and negative cognitions. Communication Research, 34, 255–276. doi: 10.1177/0093650207300427
(2007). The persuasive effect of message framing in organ donation: The mediating role of psychological reactance. Communication Monographs, 74, 229–255. doi: 10.1080/03637750701397098
(1983).
(Cognitive and physiological processes in fear appeals and attitude change: A revised theory of protection motivation . In J. T. CacioppoR. E. PettyEds., Social psychophysiology: A source book (pp. 153–176). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.2004). Fear-pattern analysis supports the fear-drive model for road safety TV-ads. Psychology & Marketing, 21, 945–960. doi: 10.1002/mar.20042
(2004). Danger and fear control in response to fear appeals: The role of need for cognition. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 26, 13–24. doi: 10.1207/s15324834basp2601_2
(2010). Mitigating psychological reactance: The role of message-induced empathy in persuasion. Human Communication Research, 36, 397–422. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01381.x
(2011). The effectiveness of fear- vs. empathy-arousing anti-smoking PSAs. Health Communication, 26, 404–415. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2011.552480
(2015). Antecedents to psychological reactance: The impact of threat, message frame, and choice. Health Communication, 30, 975–985. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2014.910882
(2014). Threat, fear, and persuasion: Review and critique of questions about functional form. Review of Communication Research, 2, 94–114. doi: 10.12840/issn.2255-4165.2014.02.01.004
(1982).
(Fear-arousing communications: A critical examination of theory and research . In J. R. EisnerEd., Social psychology and behavioral medicine (pp. 303–337). New York, NY: Wiley.1974). Freedom and reactance. New York, NY: Wiley.
(1992). Putting the fear back into fear appeals: The extended parallel process model. Communication Monographs, 59, 329–349. doi: 10.1080/03637759209376276
(1994). Fear control and danger control: A test of the extended parallel process model (EPPM). Communication Monographs, 61, 113–134. doi: 10.1080/03637759409376328
(1998).
(Fear as motivator, fear as inhibitor: Using the extended parallel process model to explain fear appeal successes and failures . In P. A. AndersenL. K. GuerreroEds., Handbook of communication and emotion: Research, theory, applications and contexts (pp. 423–450). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.2000). A meta-analysis of fear appeals: Implications for effective public health campaigns. Health Education & Behavior, 27, 591–615. doi: 10.1177/109019810002700506
(1995). Using scare tactics to promote safer sex among juvenile detention and high school youth. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 23, 128–142. doi: 10.1080/00909889509365419
(