Page 106 - The Social Animal

88 The Social Animal

instructions about how, when, and where to take action are much
more effective than recommendations not including such instruc-
tions. For example, a campaign conducted on a college campus urg-
ing students to take tetanus shots included specific instructions
about where and when they were available. The campaign materials
included a map showing the location of the student health service
and a suggestion that each student set aside a convenient time to
stop by. The results showed high-fear appeals to be more effective
than low-fear appeals in producing favorable attitudes toward
tetanus shots among the students, and they also increased the stu-
dents’ stated intentions to take the shots. The highly specific in-
structions about how to get the shots did not in any way affect these
opinions and intentions, but the instructions did have a big effect
on the actual behavior: Of those participants who were instructed
about how to proceed, 28 percent actually got the tetanus shots; but
of those who received no specific instructions, only 3 percent got
them. In a control group exposed only to the action instructions—
no fear-arousing message—none of the participants got the shots.
Thus, specific instructions alone are not enough to produce action.
Fear is a necessary component for action in such situations.
Similar results were uncovered in Leventhal’s cigarette experi-
ment. Leventhal found that a high-fear communication produced a
much greater intention to stop smoking. Unless it was accompanied
by recommendations for specific behavior, however, it produced lit-
tle behavior change. Similarly, specific instructions (“buy a magazine
instead of a pack of cigarettes,” “drink plenty of water when you have
the urge to smoke,” and so on) without a fear-arousing communica-
tion were relatively ineffective. The combination of fear arousal and
specific instructions produced the best results; the students in this
condition were smoking less 4 months after they were subjected to
the experimental procedure.
So, in some situations, fear-arousing appeals accompanied by
specific instructions for appropriate action can and do produce rec-
ommended behaviors. But as Leventhal and his colleagues have in-
dicated, the impact of fear appeals is context-specific.There are some
situations in which fear appeals—even when coupled with specific
instructions—will not produce the desired effect. Let’s consider the
most serious public health challenge in recent history: acquired im-
mune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS has been described by the