Fear appeals - scaring people in order to motivate them to change their behavior – have been a common strategy in tobacco control. The Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) is one of the latest theories that tries to explain why fear appeals sometimes fail and sometimes succeed. This article examined constructs, propositions, and assumptions of the EPPM. Review of the EPPM literature revealed that its theoretical concepts are thoroughly developed, but the theory lacks consistency in operational definitions of some of its constructs. Out of the 12 propositions of the EPPM, a few have not been tested explicitly and not a single one received unequivocal empirical support. This article proposed alternative operationalization for some of the constructs, examined some assumptions of this theory, and addressed the role of the EPPM as a potential foundation for a general theory of negative emotional appeals. 

Authored by Tobacco Research Postdoctoral Fellow, Lucy Popova, PhD, this publication has been selected to receive the Health Education & Behavior (HE&B) Lawrence W. Green Paper of the Year Award for 2013, which recognizes an author (or authors) whose peer-reviewed article has been published during the preceding year in HE&B, and is judged by the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, and Editorial Board of the journal as exemplifying the highest level of scholarship and making a singularly important contribution to the literature of the field.  To read the abstract, click here