The Effects of Positive and Negative Arousal upon Attitudes, Belief Acceptance, Behavioral Intention, and Behavior

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Abstract
An experiment was performed to test the hypotheses that (a) there would be a curvilinear relationship between increased degrees of a negative communication and persuasion, while (b) there would be a positive and linear relationship between a positive communication and persuasion. Two-hundred forty college undergraduate Smokers and Nonsmokers of both sexes were given false physiological feedback in order to manipulate their perceptions of different types of arousal (positive, negative, and control) and varying degrees of arousal (low, moderate, high, and control). The results showed that perceptions of negative arousal were related to belief acceptance and attitudes, while positive arousal was related to behavioral intentions. The results also demonstrated support for Fishbein and Ajzen's theory: beliefs predicted attitudes, while attitudes predicted intentions. However, subjective norms also predicted attitudes, and both attitudes and intentions predicted behaviors. The results not only demonstrate the importance of distinguishing between beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors when assessing the effects of persuasive communications, but also the importance of distinguishing between communications differing in type of emotional impact (positive or negative).