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Self‐Referenced Fear and Guilt Appeals: The Moderating Role of Self‐Construal
Author(s) -
Block Lauren G.
Publication year - 2005
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.1559-1816.2005.tb02103.x
Subject(s) - psychology , self construal , social psychology , construal level theory , fear appeal , sociology , interdependence , social science
Results from 2 studies on advertising to reduce the incidence of drinking and driving show that the effect of self‐ vs. other‐referencing on the persuasiveness of fear and guilt appeals is moderated by definitions of the self (independent vs. interdependent self‐construals). For people who hold a predominantly independent self‐construal, superiority of self‐ vs. other‐referencing holds for guilt appeals, but the opposite is true for fear appeals. For people who hold a predominantly interdependent self‐construal, other‐referenced and self‐referenced messages are equally recalled and equally favorable for both fear and guilt appeals.