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Communications About Environmental Risks and Risk‐Reducing Behavior: The Impact of Fear on Information Processing 1
Author(s) -
Meijnders Anneloes L.,
Midden Cees J. H.,
Wilke Henk A. M.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb01412.x
Subject(s) - fear appeal , psychology , argument (complex analysis) , social psychology , energy (signal processing) , information processing , control (management) , attitude change , fear of failure , cognitive psychology , medicine , statistics , management , economics , mathematics
The present experiment examined the impact of fear on attitudes and the mediating role of information processing. Fear and argument strength were manipulated according to a 3 × 2 (Fear: Control vs. Moderate Fear vs. High Fear × Arguments: Weak vs. Strong) between‐subjects design. Fear was aroused with regard to the risks associated with global warming, and the information to be processed was a persuasive message about energy‐conserving light bulbs. The results indicate that both moderate and high levels of fear had an impact on attitudes. Moderate fear resulted in more positive attitudes toward energy‐saving bulbs, but only when strong arguments in favor of these bulbs were provided. High fear had a positive effect on attitudes, regardless of argument strength. It is concluded that fear may influence attitudes both in a direct and an indirect way, mediated by information processing. Whether the direct or the indirect effect dominates appears to depend on fear intensity.