Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 8, 2026

Experimental Research Examining How People Can Cope with Uncertainty Through Soft Haptic Sensations
Published on: September 16, 2015
Feelings and intervention judgments as mediators in the risk perception-intention relationship
Anastasia Soureti1, Robert Hurling, Mark R Cobain
1EMGO Institute for Health Care & Research, Department of Public and Occupational Health, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands. soureti_n@yahoo.co.uk
Objectives:
To explore the mediating role of measures of persuasion in the relationship between risk perceptions and intentions.
Methods:
The first study included 413 obese subjects (mean age = 45.3 years); the second study, 781 overweight subjects (mean age = 46.6 years). All measures were assessed by self-report.
Results:
Feelings and intervention judgments were mediators in the relationship between risk perceptions and intention to eat healthier, do more physical activity (study 1) and intention to reduce saturated fat (study 2). Feelings was the only mediator in the relationship between risk perceptions and intention to stop smoking (study 1).
Conclusions:
Future interventions targeting risk perceptions to increase intentions are likely to be more effective if subjects find the information emotionally impactful, credible, and engaging.
Related Concept Videos
Cognitive Theories: Lazarus Mediational Theory of Emotion
Cognitive Appraisal and Emotional Response
Lazarus proposed that emotions are not solely...
Factors Affecting Perception
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
Framing Effects
Reason and Intuition
The Influence of Cognition on Affect
Stereotype Content Model
