Appealing to fear: A meta-analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories.
Fear appeals are a polarizing issue, with proponents confident in their efficacy and opponents confident that they backfire. We present the results of a comprehensive meta-analysis investigating fear appeals' effectiveness for influencing attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. We tested predictions from a large number of theories, the majority of which have never been tested meta-analytically until now. Studies were included if they contained a treatment group exposed to a fear appeal, a valid comparison group, a manipulation of depicted fear, a measure of attitudes, intentions, or behaviors concerning the targeted risk or recommended solution, and adequate statistics to calculate effect sizes. The meta-analysis included 127 articles (9% unpublished) yielding 248 independent samples (NTotal = 27,372) collected from diverse populations. Results showed a positive effect of fear appeals on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, with the average effect on a composite index being random-effects d = 0.29. Moderation analyses based on prominent fear appeal theories showed that the effectiveness of fear appeals increased when the message included efficacy statements, depicted high susceptibility and severity, recommended one-time only (vs. repeated) behaviors, and targeted audiences that included a larger percentage of female message recipients. Overall, we conclude that (a) fear appeals are effective at positively influencing attitude, intentions, and behaviors; (b) there are very few circumstances under which they are not effective; and (c) there are no identified circumstances under which they backfire and lead to undesirable outcomes.
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign.
Melanie B
MB
Tannenbaum
Department of Psychology, University of Nevada.
Justin
J
Hepler
College of Nursing, University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Rick S
RS
Zimmerman
Department of Social and Behavioral Health, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Lindsey
L
Saul
Department of Social and Behavioral Health, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Samantha
S
Jacobs
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign.
Kristina
K
Wilson
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign.
Dolores
D
Albarracín
D001290:Attitude; D001519:Behavior; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D012307:Risk Factors