Division of Social Sciences and Education, Pennsylvania State University, Hazleton, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2019 Mar 7;14(3):e0213453. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213453. eCollection 2019.
The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of threat appeals in influencing impulsive decision making associated with texting while driving. The participants in the treatment group were exposed to a threatening message about the danger of texting while driving, whereas those in the control group were exposed to a non-threatening message. Following the exposure to either message, the participants completed a delay-discounting task that assessed the degree of impulsive decision making in a hypothetical texting-while-driving scenario. A comparison between the groups revealed that the threat appeals reduced the degree of impulsive decision making associated with texting while driving. In addition, the threat appeals led to greater anticipated regret from texting while driving, less favorable attitudes toward texting while driving, and decreased intentions to text while driving in the future in the treatment group. These results suggest that video-based threat appeals are promising intervention strategies for the public health challenge of texting while driving. Implications from the behavioral economic perspective are discussed.
本研究的主要目的是检验威胁诉求在影响与开车发短信相关的冲动决策方面的有效性。实验组的参与者接触到了一个关于开车发短信危险的威胁性信息，而对照组的参与者接触到了一个非威胁性信息。在接触到任何一条信息后，参与者都完成了一个延迟折扣任务，评估了在假设的开车发短信情境下冲动决策的程度。对两组的比较表明，威胁诉求减少了与开车发短信相关的冲动决策程度。此外，在治疗组中，威胁诉求导致了对开车发短信的更大预期后悔、对开车发短信的态度不太有利，以及未来开车发短信的意图减少。这些结果表明，基于视频的威胁诉求是应对开车发短信这一公共健康挑战的有前途的干预策略。从行为经济学的角度讨论了这些结果的意义。
