News media, individual-level traits, and behavior change in fear appeal research

Most explanations of health risks are presented to readers and listeners as "fear appeals," messages that attempt to arouse fear to modify personal behavior. Fear appeals persuade by implying or stating that not following some suggested behavior will lead to a negative outcome. Individuals do not make decisions on an entirely rational basis so using emotions to get attention can improve exposure to essential information and then lead to behavior change in many cases.;Not every fear appeal is successful, of course. Exactly what makes for effective use of fear appeals and what leads to failure has been the debate of much scholarly effort during the last five decades. The resulting data offer few well-supported conclusions, despite the volume of research in fields from communication to environmental science.;The central goal of this dissertation is to build upon earlier studies to develop a more accurate model to predict how individuals understand fear appeals. The research seeks to add to prior work by examining other variables that can influence individuals' reactions to fear-arousing messages and to improve on the scientific rigor used in fear appeal experiments. In addition, this research will include a new message context by employing newspaper articles as the delivery medium.;More technically, it extends the EPPM/RPA focus on perceived risk and efficacy by adding three variables from persuasion research: outcome-relevant involvement, need for cognition, and sensation seeking. Outcome-relevant involvement examines how much a person focuses on the consequences of an issue. Need for cognition measures the degree to which individuals put forth mental effort when considering topics. Sensation seeking assesses an individual's need for stimulating new experiences.;More effective survey measurement instruments will avoid some pitfalls common to prior fear appeal research. Lastly, looking at mass media editorial content will expand the scope of fear appeal experiments into a new area.;An online experiment was conducted with 1105 individuals who each read one of five fabricated news article intended to provide a certain level of perceived threat and perceived efficacy. In addition, respondents completed survey instruments to measure the presence of certain psychological traits commonly used in persuasion research.;Data indicate that perceived threat was a solid predictor of outcome-relevant involvement, which in turn was a predictor of positive behavioral intention. Need for cognition was a significant moderator between message content and perceived threat. Sensation seeking, however, was not a significant predictor, contrary to the hypothesis.;Within the context of this experiment, fear appeal and efficacy messages included in mass media content seem to be effective means to altering individual behavioral intentions. Individual-level considerations are also worth considering when media are presented in a context that allows for personalized customization. The importance of customization will grow increasingly obvious as digital media continue to become more widespread...