THERE ARE THREATS AND (MAYBE) FEAR-CAUSED AROUSAL - THEORY AND CONFUSIONS OF APPEALS TO FEAR AND FEAR AROUSAL ITSELF

Most research in the area generally known as ''fear appeals'' has exam ined the persuasive effects and effectiveness of different types of th reat-based communications on various groups of consumer subjects, ofte n failing to distinguish between the threats, the literal communicatio n stimuli, and the actual fear arousal response that different types o f threats might engender. Building on a noteworthy exception to that p attern of past work, which provided a basis for a model of fear arousa l, the authors further clarify the distinction between threats and psy chological responses to the threats. They test an expanded model based on that distinction that provides further understanding of consumer f ear arousal responses to advertising stimuli.