School of Psychology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway, Ireland.
PLoS One. 2013 May 17;8(5):e62821. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062821. Print 2013.
The existing empirical research exploring the impact of threat appeals on driver behavior has reported inconsistent findings. In an effort to provide an up-to-date synthesis of the experimental findings, meta-analytic techniques were employed to examine the impact of threat-based messages on fear arousal and on lab-based indices of driving behavior. Experimental studies (k = 13, N = 3044), conducted between 1990 and 2011, were included in the analyses. The aims of the current analysis were (a) to examine whether or not the experimental manipulations had a significant impact on evoked fear, (b) to examine the impact of threat appeals on three distinct indices of driving, and (c) to identify moderators and mediators of the relationship between fear and driving outcomes. Large effects emerged for the level of fear evoked, with experimental groups reporting increased fear arousal in comparison to control groups (r = .64, n = 619, p<.01). The effect of threat appeals on driving outcomes, however, was not significant (r = .03, p = .17). This analysis of the experimental literature indicates that threat appeals can lead to increased fear arousal, but do not appear to have the desired impact on driving behavior. We discuss these findings in the context of threat-based road safety campaigns and future directions for experimental research in this area.
现有的探索威胁呼吁对驾驶行为影响的实证研究报告结果不一致。为了对实验结果进行最新综合，采用元分析技术来检验基于威胁的信息对恐惧唤起和基于实验室的驾驶行为指标的影响。纳入的分析包括 1990 年至 2011 年间进行的 13 项实验研究（k = 13，N = 3044）。当前分析的目的是：（a）检验实验操作是否对引起的恐惧有显著影响；（b）检验威胁呼吁对三种不同驾驶指标的影响；（c）确定恐惧与驾驶结果之间关系的调节变量和中介变量。研究结果显示，引起的恐惧程度存在显著影响，实验组报告的恐惧唤起程度高于对照组（r =.64，n = 619，p<.01）。然而，威胁呼吁对驾驶结果的影响并不显著（r =.03，p =.17）。对实验文献的分析表明，威胁呼吁可以引起更大的恐惧唤起，但似乎对驾驶行为没有产生预期的影响。我们将这些发现置于基于威胁的道路安全运动的背景下，并讨论了这一领域未来的实验研究方向。
