Student: Camilla Tepin Rizzi
Student number: 2253488
Seminar number: 3
Seminar instructor: Ruthie Pliskin
Word count essay 1: 254
Word count essay 2: 269
Discussion Essay 1: The not so fearful root of persuasion
Fear seems to play a role in persuasion, especially when it is combined with humor
(Mukherjee & Dubé, 2012). Following findings, likewise reveal the power of fear in
prompting “brand attachment” (BA) (Dunn and Hoegg, 2014). In both cases, when fear was
induced the likelihood of being persuaded, by ads in the former and brands in the latter, was
higher.
The particular emotion exerts its influence alarming threat, pushing to seek relief that
may relate to the need of affiliation, encountered in both portions of the literature. BA results
from the necessity of feeling social connection in fear-contexts, motivating to engage in
emotional attachment towards a brand - unanimated object- present in the very moment. In
the same line, there is no necessity to seek out interpersonal comfort when the social element
of humor is present, so that tension and defensiveness aroused by fear-inducing messages are
overcome. Humor and BA attenuate fear; does this lead to more complexity in emotional
appraisal (EA)? When fear is concurrent with social elements of humor or affiliation
possibility, fear may be more prone to being translated into excitement as opposed to fight-
or-flight responses: explaining how the “brand attachment” is developed as the transfer of
excitement onto the object.
We recognize that these social elements persuade, yet, the gap in the literature
consists of understanding how they influence persuasion processes. MA of fear in ads’
contexts can be utilized to define whether the impact of excitation may be more powerful
than the induced-emotion itself when social cues are available.
Student number: 2253488
Seminar number: 3
Seminar instructor: Ruthie Pliskin
Word count essay 1: 254
Word count essay 2: 269
Discussion Essay 1: The not so fearful root of persuasion
Fear seems to play a role in persuasion, especially when it is combined with humor
(Mukherjee & Dubé, 2012). Following findings, likewise reveal the power of fear in
prompting “brand attachment” (BA) (Dunn and Hoegg, 2014). In both cases, when fear was
induced the likelihood of being persuaded, by ads in the former and brands in the latter, was
higher.
The particular emotion exerts its influence alarming threat, pushing to seek relief that
may relate to the need of affiliation, encountered in both portions of the literature. BA results
from the necessity of feeling social connection in fear-contexts, motivating to engage in
emotional attachment towards a brand - unanimated object- present in the very moment. In
the same line, there is no necessity to seek out interpersonal comfort when the social element
of humor is present, so that tension and defensiveness aroused by fear-inducing messages are
overcome. Humor and BA attenuate fear; does this lead to more complexity in emotional
appraisal (EA)? When fear is concurrent with social elements of humor or affiliation
possibility, fear may be more prone to being translated into excitement as opposed to fight-
or-flight responses: explaining how the “brand attachment” is developed as the transfer of
excitement onto the object.
We recognize that these social elements persuade, yet, the gap in the literature
consists of understanding how they influence persuasion processes. MA of fear in ads’
contexts can be utilized to define whether the impact of excitation may be more powerful
than the induced-emotion itself when social cues are available.
