The graphic side of fear: The effects of anti-tobacco graphic threat appeals

<p>Many public health organizations have proposed and implemented campaigns and policies involving graphic ads or warnings to deter individuals from smoking. The current study evaluated how high-cigarette dependent smokers evaluate these messages compared to low-cigarette dependent smokers using a mixed, 3 x 2 factorial design. A pilot study involving focus groups, interviews, and evaluation questionnaires (<em>N</em>=10) was conducted to classify graphic threat appeals and develop stimulus materials for the primary study. For the primary study, three graphic threat appeal conditions were evaluated by Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) users (<em>N</em>=200). Findings suggested that the graphicness of the images significantly influenced arousal, aversive response, and persuasion. However, high-cigarette dependent smokers evaluated messages as less aversive than low-cigarette dependent smokers to the graphicness in messages. Additionally, low-cigarette dependent smokers may be at greater risk for experiencing cognitive overload and reallocating cognitive resources to defensive responses. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future research and message design are discussed.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication

Year

2016

Author dc:creator

• Swanson, LaTasha R

Contributors dc:contributor

• Marifran Mattson
• Lalatendu Acharya
• Maria K. Venetis
• David M. Whittinghill
• Steven R. Wilson

• Communication and the arts
• Psychology
• Health and environmental sciences
• Anti-smoking
• Disgust
• Extended parallel process model
• Fear
• Graphic threat appeals
• Limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing
• Communication
• Public Health
• Social and Behavioral Sciences

Repository record dc:identifier

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/857

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:docs.lib.purdue.edu:open_access_dissertations-2049