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When Defensive Reactions Contribute to the Acceptance of Fear-Arousing Communications

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Abstract

Literature on fear-arousing communications has led to divergent conclusions. On the one hand, studies have shown that fear increases attitude change via systematic processing. On the other hand, it has been observed that arousing fear provokes defense-motivated reactions. Nevertheless, few studies have embedded measures of persuasion, information processing, and defensiveness all at once. Consequently, we conducted an experiment to assess the effects of fear-arousal on these three outcomes in order to clarify this ambiguous issue. The participants were instructed to watch a public service announcement video with two conditions of fear. Our results showed that an increase of fear generated a more positive attitude, as well as systematic processing but, surprisingly, more defensive reactions. Further analyses revealed a mediating effect of these reactions between fear and attitude. These results suggest an alternative pathway to understand the effects of fear-appeals, emphasizing the positive influence of defensive responses.

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Notes

  1. No other sociodemographic information was collected.

  2. These advertisements promoted varied products like perfumes, foods, cars, cell phones, etc.

  3. There were 9 men and 28 women; the mean age was of 19.2 years.

  4. The average number of thoughts included was: M = 5.41, SD = 1.99

  5. This scale has not been validated but included items that have been borrowed to Lewis et al. 2008, 2009

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  1. Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale, Université of Aix-Marseille, 29, avenue Robert Schuman, 13621, Aix-en-Provence, France

    Jérôme Blondé & Fabien Girandola

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  1. Jérôme Blondé
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  2. Fabien Girandola
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Correspondence to Jérôme Blondé.

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Blondé, J., Girandola, F. When Defensive Reactions Contribute to the Acceptance of Fear-Arousing Communications. Curr Psychol 38, 75–83 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9590-z

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