Fear Responses to Threat Appeals: Functional Form, Methodological Considerations, and Correspondence Between Static and Dynamic Data

The study tested (a) the extent to which an inverted-U pattern of fear response predicted persuasion, (b) the degree to which the fear curve mediated the effects of the four components of threat appeals on persuasion, (c) the correspondence between the static measures of fear used in between-subjects designs and the dynamic indices required by the within-subject approach, and (d) the methodological threats inherent to dynamic designs....