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February 11, 2026Acta PsychologicaOpen Access

Fear appeals amplify the continued influence effect of health wish rumor: Mediation of perceived efficacy

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Authors

XWXuying WangTianjin Normal UniversityXJXiaokang JinTianjin Normal UniversityYYYifan YuTianjin Normal University

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Implication

Experiments reveal fear appeals boost reliance on health wish rumors, suggesting urgent strategies for public health.

Key Points

  • This research examines how fear appeals increase the impact of health wish rumors on public behavior and decision-making.
  • Conducted two experiments with a total of 180 participants.
  • Experiment 1: Compared misinformation corrections under fear appeals, general appeals, and no information.
  • Experiment 2: Replicated findings and identified perceived efficacy as a mediator through linear mixed models.
  • Fear appeal misinformation corrections led to significantly higher inference scores and purchase intentions compared to no misinformation controls.
  • Perceived efficacy fully mediated the increase in purchase intentions due to fear appeals.
  • Perceived threat did not show a mediating effect.

Cite This Study

Wang et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/698c1bb8267fb587c655d901https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106418
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Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1Putting the fear back into fear appeals: The extended parallel process model1992 · 3,932 citations
  2. 2Multivitamin Use and Mortality Risk in 3 Prospective US Cohorts2024 · 35 citations
  3. 3Health Misinformation Exposure and Health Disparities: Observations and Opportunities2022 · 89 citations
  4. 4Sentiments and emotions evoked by news headlines of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak2020 · 281 citations
  5. 5Vaccination against misinformation: The inoculation technique reduces the continued influence effect2022 · 24 citations