Effects of Fear and Anger on Perceived Risks of Terrorism

Abstract

The aftermath of September 11th highlights the need to understand how emotion affects citizens' responses to risk. It also provides an opportunity to test current theories of such effects. On the basis of appraisal-tendency theory, we predicted opposite effects for anger and fear on risk judgments and policy preferences. In a nationally representative sample of Americans (N = 973, ages 13-88) fear increased risk estimates and plans for precautionary measures; anger did the opposite. These patterns emerged with both experimentally induced emotions and naturally occurring ones. Males had less pessimistic risk estimates than did females, emotion differences explaining 60 to 80% of the gender difference. Emotions also predicted diverging public policy preferences. Discussion focuses on theoretical, methodological, and policy implications.

Nordmenns holdninger til telefonavlytting: Resultaterfra et surveyeksperiment

“…Litteraturen tilsier også at holdninger til terror, og ikke minst frykten for å bli utsatt for terror, er relatert til alder (Lerner et al 2003). Argumentet er at unge mennesker kjenner seg mindre sårbare enn eldre mennesker, noe som i sin tur kan bidra til at yngre respondenter er mindre villige til å gi etter for en anmodning fra PST, sammenlignet med eldre respondenter.…”

Psychological Distress and Smoking Behavior: The Nature of the Relation Differs by Race/Ethnicity

“…The psychological distress and differences in the psychological distress-smoking relation as a function of race were examined using logistic regression for smoking status and linear regression for number of cigarettes smoked; in both, the key predictors were race, psychological distress, and the interaction of the two. In addition, given evidence that specific types of negative affect can have differing effects on cognition and behavior (Ellsworth & Scherer, 2003;Lerner, Gonzalez, Small, & Fischhoff, 2003;Lerner, Small, & Loewenstein, 2004), we conducted exploratory analyses using each individual K6 item rather than the overall measure in the analyses described above. Because smoking is associated with both low-arousal (e.g., depression) and high-arousal (e.g., anxiety) types of psychological distress (Covey et al, 1998;Lasser et al, 2000;Zvolensky & Bernstein, 2005), we also separately examined high-and low-arousal items.…”

The Varying Influences of Positive Emotions on Consumption Motivation

“…Briefly, ATF states that it is possible to experience conditions under which emotions of the same valence will have divergent effects. For example, it has been shown that anger triggered in one situation can evoke more optimistic risk estimates and risk-seeking choices in unrelated situations, whereas fear does the opposite: both fear and anger are described as states of feeling bad (Lerner, Gonzalez, Small & Fischhoff, 2003;Lerner & Keltner, 2001 (Smith & Ellsworth, 1985), and -depending on how each positive (or negative) emotion is coded -the likelihood of some specific course of action may vary (Lazarus, 1991;Scherer, 1999). Second, emotion carries with it certain motivational properties that spill over to subsequent judgments.…”