Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: An experimental study tested the effect of fear appeals on the processing and acceptance of action recommendations. Based on assumptions from a motivated information processing perspective and self-integrity theory, it was postulated that that the effects of fear appeals on persuasion are mediated by a motivation to restore the integrity of the self, and not by perceptions of threat, or the emotion of fear, related to one’s health. A 2 (vulnerability: hi, lo) x 2 (self-affirmation: hi, lo) x 2 (argument quality: weak, strong) factorial design was employed to test predictions. Results were in accordance with hypotheses. It was found that increases in vulnerability induced an overly positive perception of action recommendations, and increased persuasion regardless of the quality of the arguments in the recommendation. However, intention and actions to engage in the recommended action dissipated when participants had been given the opportunity to affirm the self.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Criminologists interested in fear of crime have provided descriptive accounts of the epidemiology of fear in the adult population. Little attention has been directed to etiology, and there has been a general paucity of attention given to fear among children. Further, the fear of crime literature has been criticized for failing to incorporate panel data, multi-item scales, and a theoretical basis. Data collected as part of an ongoing evaluation of a victimization prevention program address these limitations and allow one to test the applicability of a risk interpretation model of fear in a school-based adolescent panel of individuals using two waves of data. Measurement issues are addressed by incorporating a multi-item crime-specific set of questions assessing the fear and perceived risk of victimization, following guidelines set forth in the fear of crime literature.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Fear of crime research finds that men are less likely to admit to fear of crime than women. Work conducted by Goodey (1997) and Gilchrist et al. (1998) challenges this finding, arguing that men may fear crime but are socialized to believe fear is an inappropriate response for men. Married women interviewed in my previous work on the connection between gender and fear of crime indicated that husbands may not only have to negotiate fear for themselves based on masculine notions of fear as weakness but may also be responsible for fearing crime and engaging in fear work behaviors for their wives. Based on this finding, qualitative interviews were conducted with married men living in the south. These results were consulted to answer one research question which is “How do men negotiate fear within their marriage?” Results and analyses are explored.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Law and the City are combined together on various levels to create what can be called ‘the lawscape’. While appropriate, the fusion is ridden with conflict, crossings and paradoxes. Seen from each system’s point of view, the lawscape is drawn together and centripetally erupted on the basis of the location of fear. Fear and its systemic counterpart, fear of fear, will be observed on the palpitations of the boundary between law and the city, contributing thereby to a transdisciplinary construction which is distanced from psychology and rendered free to be linked with cinematographic, architectural, sociolegal and philosophical references, aiming at a full liquefaction and paradoxification of the ambivalence of fear as the enabler of the lawscape.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This cross-cultural investigation examines the relationship between fear of negative evaluation, affect for communication channels (i.e., email versus face-to-face), and self-reports of communication competence. Participants from both Japan (N = 146) and the United States (N = 325) responded to three scales, Fear of Negative Evaluation (Leary, 1983), Affect for Communication Channels Scale (Kelly & Keaten, 2005), and a measure of communication competence. Cross-cultural differences were discovered on reports of fear of negative evaluation, CMC use, and self-reported competence. The factors predicting channel usage in a difficult personal situation (e.g., competence and general email usage), however, were quite similar across Japanese and U.S. participants.