Threat appeals reduce impulsive decision making associated with texting while driving: A behavioral economic approach

The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of threat appeals in influencing impulsive decision making associated with texting while driving. The participants in the treatment group were exposed to a threatening message about the danger of texting while driving, whereas those in the control group were exposed to a non-threatening message. Following the exposure to either message, the participants completed a delay-discounting task that assessed the degree of impulsive decision making in a hypothetical texting-while-driving scenario. A comparison between the groups revealed that the threat appeals reduced the degree of impulsive decision making associated with texting while driving. In addition, the threat appeals led to greater anticipated regret from texting while driving, less favorable attitudes toward texting while driving, and decreased intentions to text while driving in the future in the treatment group. These results suggest that video-based threat appeals are promising intervention strategies for the public health challenge of texting while driving. Implications from the behavioral economic perspective are discussed.

本研究的核心目的在于考察威胁性诉求对驾驶时发短信相关冲动决策的影响效果。实验组参与者接收了一则关于驾驶时发短信危险性的威胁性信息，而对照组参与者则接收了一则无威胁性信息。在接收上述两类信息之一后，参与者完成了一项延迟折扣任务（delay-discounting task），该任务用于评估假想驾驶时发短信情境下的冲动决策程度。组间对比结果显示，威胁性诉求可降低与驾驶时发短信相关的冲动决策程度。此外，实验组中参与者因驾驶时发短信产生的预期后悔程度更高，对驾驶时发短信的态度更负面，且未来驾驶时发短信的意向更低。上述结果表明，基于视频的威胁性诉求有望成为应对驾驶时发短信这一公共卫生难题的有效干预手段。本研究还从行为经济学视角探讨了其研究启示。