title: Mixed emotional appeals in emotional and danger control processes.
abstract: Negative emotional appeals do not always help to reduce risk behaviors. We report two studies about a new strategy based on the presentation of appeals with mixed sequential emotions (e.g., sadness/fear-joy/relief). Study 1 shows that a mixed message generates lower post-message discomfort than an exclusively negative message; moreover, in this first study, reported probability of performing the risk behavior, binge drinking, in the future is also lower in the mixed condition. Study 2 replicates these results and relates them to the extended parallel process model (EPPM) (Witte, 1992). Here, the mixed emotional message again generates lower post-message discomfort than the negative one, and participants are motivated to control the danger (response efficacy is evaluated more positively in the mixed condition).
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Psychology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, CantoBlanco, Madrid, Spain 28049. pilar.carrera@uam.es
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carrera
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Amparo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caballero
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004644:Emotions; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D058015:Health Communication / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D020377:Self Efficacy; D040241:Social Marketing; D013030:Spain; D055815:Young Adult