"I Felt Completely Turned off by the Message": The Effects of Controlling Language, Fear, and Disgust Appeals on Responses to COVID-19 Vaccination Messages.
J Health Commun
; 27(6): 427-438, 2022 06 03.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2028857
ABSTRACT
Psychological reactance theory (PRT) posits that when individuals' perceived freedoms are threatened or restricted, they become aversively aroused and are motivated to reestablish those freedoms, leading to a state of psychological reactance. Applying PRT, this study examined the effects of controlling language, fear, and disgust appeals on responses to COVID-19 vaccination promotion messages. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions across controlling language (high/low), fear appeals (high/low), and disgust appeals (high/low), wherein they viewed two messages, with responses measured after each message. Results showed persuasion was diminished when the levels of any of these three variables were elevated, as in conditions of either high controlling language, high fear appeals, or high disgust appeals. Relative to low levels of these variables, high levels resulted in greater freedom threat perceptions, reactance, source derogation, and less positive attitudes toward the message. A 2-way interaction between fear and disgust appeals on source derogation and message attitudes in the low controlling language condition was significant-participants reported the least source derogation and most positive attitudes toward the message in response to the low controlling language, low fear, and low disgust appeals.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Disgust
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
J Health Commun
Journal subject:
Public Health
/
Health Services
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
10810730.2022.2119311
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