Does heightening risk appraisals change people's intentions and behavior? A meta-analysis of experimental studies.

By P. Sheeran, Peter R. Harris, Tracy Epton. Psychological bulletin, 2014

876 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Several theories construe risk appraisals as key determinants of decisions and actions, and this idea has been supported in correlational studies. However, correlational data cannot answer the question, "Does heightening risk appraisals change people's intentions and behavior?" The present review meta-analyzed experimental evidence in order to address this issue. We identified 4 elements of risk appraisal-risk perception, anticipatory emotion, anticipated emotion, and perceived severity-and located experiments that (a) engendered a statistically significant increase in risk appraisal among treatment compared to control participants and (b) measured subsequent intention or behavior. Heightening risk appraisals had effects of d+ = .31 (k = 217) and d+ = .23 (k = 93) on intention and behavior, respectively. There was evidence that the elements of risk appraisal combined to influence outcomes. For instance, heightening risk perceptions had larger effects on outcomes when anticipatory emotions or perceived severity was also increased. Crucially, risk appraisal effects were augmented by coping appraisals: Risk appraisals had larger effects on outcomes when response efficacy and self-efficacy were enhanced or when response costs were reduced. The largest effect sizes were observed when risk appraisals, response efficacy, and self-efficacy were simultaneously heightened (d+ = .98 and .45, for intention and behavior, respectively). These findings indicate that heightening risk appraisals changes intentions and behavior. However, the direct effects of risk appraisals were generally small. Exploiting synergies among the elements of risk appraisal, and between risk appraisals and coping appraisals, should make for more effective behavior change interventions.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, General Decision Sciences

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/65460f62a6919d8b98c1df04ab13e1e8ec87ed04

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In Applied Psychology

1. Alexander J. Rothman
2. E. Miles
3. Manuel Alector Ribeiro
4. William M. P. Klein
5. Alexander Maki
6. P. Sheeran
7. K. Woosnam
8. B. B. Boley

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

1. Alexander J. Rothman
2. Manuel Alector Ribeiro
3. E. Miles
4. A. Bryan
5. P. Sheeran
6. K. Woosnam
7. Peter M. Gollwitzer
8. James J. Gross

In General Decision Sciences

1. P. Sheeran
2. John Th⊘gersen

Citations in the corpus

• Individuals’ intentions to engage in last chance tourism: applying the value-belief-norm model (2020, background): “Though to help allay any potential concerns, self-efficacy may be considered in tandem with these behavioral intentions to further explain behavior (Sheeran et al., 2014).”
• The impact of changing attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy on health-related intentions and behavior: A meta-analysis. (2015, background): “…norm, self-efficacy The Impact of Changing Attitudes, Norms, and Self-Efficacy on Health-Related Intentions and Behavior: A Meta-Analysis Meta-analyses of correlational studies indicate that beliefs concerning (a) the appeal and consequences of behavior (attitudes), (b) other people’s approval…”