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Threatening communication: a critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory

Despite decades of research, consensus regarding the dynamics of fear appeals remains elusive. A meta-analysis was conducted that was designed to resolve this controversy. Publications that were included in previous meta-analyses were re-analysed, and a number of additional publications were located...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Peters, Gjalt-Jorn Ygram, Ruiter, Robert A.C., Kok, Gerjo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Taylor & Francis 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3678850/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23772231
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2012.703527
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author Peters, Gjalt-Jorn Ygram
Ruiter, Robert A.C.
Kok, Gerjo
author_facet Peters, Gjalt-Jorn Ygram
Ruiter, Robert A.C.
Kok, Gerjo
author_sort Peters, Gjalt-Jorn Ygram
collection PubMed
description Despite decades of research, consensus regarding the dynamics of fear appeals remains elusive. A meta-analysis was conducted that was designed to resolve this controversy. Publications that were included in previous meta-analyses were re-analysed, and a number of additional publications were located. The inclusion criteria were full factorial orthogonal manipulations of threat and efficacy, and measurement of behaviour as an outcome. Fixed and random effects models were used to compute mean effect size estimates. Meta-analysis of the six studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria clearly showed a significant interaction between threat and efficacy, such that threat only had an effect under high efficacy (d = 0.31), and efficacy only had an effect under high threat (d = 0.71). Inconsistency in results regarding the effectiveness of threatening communication can likely be attributed to flawed methodology. Proper tests of fear appeal theory yielded the theoretically hypothesised interaction effect. Threatening communication should exclusively be used when pilot studies indicate that an intervention successfully enhances efficacy.
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spelling pubmed-36788502013-06-12 Threatening communication: a critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory Peters, Gjalt-Jorn Ygram Ruiter, Robert A.C. Kok, Gerjo Health Psychol Rev Research Article Despite decades of research, consensus regarding the dynamics of fear appeals remains elusive. A meta-analysis was conducted that was designed to resolve this controversy. Publications that were included in previous meta-analyses were re-analysed, and a number of additional publications were located. The inclusion criteria were full factorial orthogonal manipulations of threat and efficacy, and measurement of behaviour as an outcome. Fixed and random effects models were used to compute mean effect size estimates. Meta-analysis of the six studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria clearly showed a significant interaction between threat and efficacy, such that threat only had an effect under high efficacy (d = 0.31), and efficacy only had an effect under high threat (d = 0.71). Inconsistency in results regarding the effectiveness of threatening communication can likely be attributed to flawed methodology. Proper tests of fear appeal theory yielded the theoretically hypothesised interaction effect. Threatening communication should exclusively be used when pilot studies indicate that an intervention successfully enhances efficacy. Taylor & Francis 2013-05-28 2013-05 /pmc/articles/PMC3678850/ /pubmed/23772231 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2012.703527 Text en © 2013 Gjalt-Jorn Ygram Peters http://www.informaworld.com/mpp/uploads/iopenaccess_tcs.pdf This is an open access article distributed under the Supplemental Terms and Conditions for iOpenAccess articles published in Taylor & Francis journals (http://www.informaworld.com/mpp/uploads/iopenaccess_tcs.pdf) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Peters, Gjalt-Jorn Ygram
Ruiter, Robert A.C.
Kok, Gerjo
Threatening communication: a critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory
title Threatening communication: a critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory
title_full Threatening communication: a critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory
title_fullStr Threatening communication: a critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory
title_full_unstemmed Threatening communication: a critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory
title_short Threatening communication: a critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory
title_sort threatening communication: a critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3678850/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23772231
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2012.703527
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