A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeals: Implications for Effective Public Health Campaigns

The fear appeal literature is examined in a comprehensive synthesis using meta-analytical techniques. The meta-analysis suggests that strong fear appeals produce high levels of perceived severity and susceptibility, and are more persuasive than low or weak fear appeals. The results also indicate tha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health education & behavior 2000-10, Vol.27 (5), p.591-615
Main Authors: Witte, Kim, Allen, Mike
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Achievement Need
Attitude Change
Behavior Change
Behavior modification
Beliefs
Biological and medical sciences
Cognitive Processes
Epidemiology
Fear
Fear & phobias
Feedback (Response)
General aspects
Health Education
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health Promotion
Humans
Hygiene
Learning Theories
Literature Reviews
Medical sciences
Meta Analysis
Methodology
Perceptions
Persuasive Communication
Public Health
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Researchers
Self Efficacy
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Systematic review
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Summary:The fear appeal literature is examined in a comprehensive synthesis using meta-analytical techniques. The meta-analysis suggests that strong fear appeals produce high levels of perceived severity and susceptibility, and are more persuasive than low or weak fear appeals. The results also indicate that fear appeals motivate adaptive danger control actions such as message acceptance and maladaptive fear control actions such as defensive avoidance or reactance. It appears that strong fear appeals and high-efficacy messages produce the greatest behavior change, whereas strong fear appeals with low-efficacy messages produce the greatest levels of defensive responses. Future directions and practical implications are provided.
ISSN:1090-1981
1552-6127
DOI:10.1177/109019810002700506