Abstract: This study used Witte's extended parallel process model to examine the relationships between the use of fear appeals and college students? attitudes and behavioral intentions toward global warming. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was adopted. Three hundred forty-one college students from six communication courses at two universities were recruited for this experiment. The results show that when in a high-threat condition, both high- and low-efficacy messages resulted in positive attitudes and behavioral changes, while in a low-threat condition, low-efficacy messages led to negative changes in attitudes and behavioral intentions. This study suggests that when attempting to promote low carbon-emitting behaviors among college students, messages should contain both threat and efficacy information, but messages that contain low-threat and low-efficacy information should be avoided.
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↑ http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2014.930399