Page 109 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

102 The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

neurobiological structures that automatically initiate this kind of alertness,
modified by the anticipation of loss or gain and by the simultaneous evok-
ing of anxiety, influencing the persuasive appeal of the perceived argu-
ments (Williams et al., 2007).
The research methodology employed by Arceneaux (2012) was a slight
alteration of the well-known experiment by Tversky and Kahneman
(1981) pertaining to the phenomenon of “Asian disease.” The subjects
were presented two alternatives for spending money to treat Asian bird flu.
The money could be used to increase the production of the already avail-
able vaccine, which would certainly save some people. The other option
was to undertake more risky steps to produce a new vaccine, whose pro-
duction—if successful—would help save everyone from the disease.
The use of a negative and a positive frame was simple. In the former
case, the argument relied on highlighting the information that by continu-
ing the present treatment, the death of many people would be inevitable.
In the latter situation, it was stressed that this continuation would save
some lives. Both situations essentially repeat the situations used in the
classic experiment by Tversky and Kahneman (1981), and the results con-
firmed that in the case of negative framing subjects revealed a greater risk-
seeking attitude, opting for the production of a new vaccine, in contrast to
the subjects facing the problem set in a positive frame.
The novelty of Arceneaux’s (2012) research was in the introduction of a
third situation, where both frames were used simultaneously in a so-called
competing argument condition. The subjects were presented an option in
which continuing the present treatment methodology would cause some
people to be saved but would inevitably lead to the loss of some lives. The
results did not diverge from the results for the control group, whose mem-
bers were also asked to choose between two alternative treatments but
were not exposed to any argumentation in favor of either treatment. Thus,
it can be expected that the persuasive appeal behind the mode of message
presentation is neutralized in the case of the simultaneous presentation of
arguments in positive and negative framing.
Arceneaux’s research (2012) effectively illustrates how various positions
are presented in competitive democracies. However, in the conception of
persuasion based on anxiety as a key factor (see Figure 4.2), the situation
where the argumentation is simultaneously presented in a negative and a
positive frame clearly discloses the modifying role of anxiety in activating
risk-prone behaviors. Arceneaux examined the attitudes of the subjects
toward a new, risky treatment that would save everyone’s life. He also ana-
lyzed affective reactions to the presented problem. As a result, he was able
to divide the subjects into groups for low or high levels of anxiety.