The paradoxical outcome is that, while the technical control of a danger is a risk, the spreading of the risk of dangers controlling technologies (and of technologies controlling technologies) in turn becomes an incontrollable danger.
According to this model, the threat and efficacy components must be accepted by the message receivers to achieve the desired behavior or practice (at both individual and collective levels); this is termed "danger control" per the EPPM.
People can either control the danger elicited by the threat by making a positive and conscious shift in attitude and behaviour (called protective motivation or danger control responses).
Furthermore Witte et al 40 has shown that that the level of perceived efficacy determines whether people engage in danger control or fear control responses.
According to the extended parallel process model, health threats can cause individuals to engage in either danger control or fear control processes.
High-threat responses coupled with high efficacy tend to lead to danger control responses, in this case to adopt message recommendations, change attitudes, intentions and smoking behaviour.
40 Similarly for danger control responses an aggregate score of the five questions on intentions to change smoking behaviour/seek help will be calculated.
Medium to high perceived threat combined with high perceived efficacy will most likely result in danger control responses while high perceived threat combined with low perceived efficacy will most likely lead to fear control responses.
The patterns of correlation will be explored between the RBD subscale scores (susceptibility and severity of threat, and response and self-efficacy) and also for danger control responses, fear control responses and protective responses.
Danger control is aimed at reducing the health threat through cognitively processed adaptive responses (e.g. seeking testing and treatment), whereas fear control is aimed at reducing unpleasant feeling related to the health threat.
42 Alternatively, if the target audience is in danger control, messages can remind people about the threat of smoking to maintain motivation, while also increasing efficacy for quitting, as above.
