Fear Appeals and Persuasion: Testing for Within-person Effects
Open Access
Author:
Meczkowski, Eric Joseph
Graduate Program:
Communication Arts and Sciences
Degree:
Master of Arts
Document Type:
Master Thesis
Date of Defense:
October 03, 2014
Committee Members:
James Dillard, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Keywords:
Curvilinear hypothesis emotion fear fear appeals persuasion
Abstract:
Fear appeals have an extensive history in social scientific research. One of the earliest theories, the drive model, predicts that the fear-persuasion relationship is characterized by an inverted U-curve. Meta-analyses have firmly established that a between-persons curvilinear relationship between fear and persuasion is empirically unsupported. But, these studies cannot assess the within-person curvilinear predictions advanced by the drive model. Instead, the distinction between between-persons and within-person is often conflated in the literature. To assess this relationship, a methodology that can adequately test the within-person curvilinear prediction is outlined, and the results of a study which utilizes this methodology are presented. The current analysis finds empirical support for a within-person curvilinear relationship between dynamic fear arousal and persuasion, and experimental manipulation of fear response across different groups indicates that different fear curves differentially predict persuasion. The implications of these findings and potential future research are discussed.
