Perceived susceptibility is a major component of
threat perception in the Health Belief Model
(Rosenstock,
1966
xClose
Rosenstock, I.M. (1966). Why people use health services. Milbank
Memorial Fund Quarterly , 44, 94-127. ;
Becker,
1974
xClose
Becker, M.H. (ed). (1974) The health belief model and personal
health behavior. Health Education Monographs , 2,
324-508. ; Maiman
& Becker, 1974
xClose
Maiman, L.A. , & Becker, M.H. (1974). The health belief
model: origins and correlates in psychological theory. Health
Education Monographs , 2, 336-353. ). Specifically,
this model suggests that the greater the perceived susceptibility,
the greater the perceived threat, and the more likely a person
will perform precautionary behaviors such as immunization.
In Protection Motivation Theory (Rogers
, 1983
xClose
Rogers, R.W. (1983). Cognitive and physiological processes
in fear appeals and attitude change: a revised theory of protection
motivation. In J. T. Cacioppo and R. E. Petty (Eds.), Social
Psychophysiology . New York : Guilford Press, 153-176.
) perceived vulnerability is an important component
of a process of threat appraisal, suggesting that people actively
engage in a process of determining their risk. The Precaution
Adoption Process (Weinstein,
1988
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Weinstein , N.D. (1988). The precaution adoption process.
Health Psychology , 7, 355-386. ) significantly
expanded the construct by suggesting that people go through
distinctly different stages of acknowledging their vulnerability,
ranging from not being aware that there is a danger, to aware
of the danger, to finally acknowledging that there are personally
at risk.
Perceived vulnerability is also and important component of
the Prototype/Willingness Model (Gibbons
& Gerrard, 1995
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Gibbons, F.X., & Gerrard, M. (1995). Predicting young
adults' health risk behavior. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology , 69, 505-517. ; Gibbons,
Gerrard, & Lane, 2003
xClose
Gibbons, F.X., Gerrard, M., & Lane, D.J. (2003). A social
reaction model of adolescent health risk. In J.M. Suls &
K. Wallston (Eds.), Social psychological foundations
of health and illness . Oxford , U.K: Blackwell. ).
In this model, perceptions of vulnerability are part of a
"reasoned" path to risk behavior reflecting the
fact that some people who engage in risk behaviors acknowledge
their vulnerability to the negative consequences of these
behaviors (Gerrard,
Gibbons, Benthin, & Hessling 1996
xClose
Gerrard, M., Gibbons, F.X., Benthin A., & Hessling, R.M.
(1996). A longitudinal study of the reciprocal nature of risk
behaviors and cognitions in adolescents: What you do shapes
what you think and vice versa. Health Psychology, 15 ,
344-354. ). In contrast, it is not part of the "social
reaction" path to risk behavior (Gerrard,
Gibbons, Reis-Bergan, Trudeau, Vande Lune, & Buunk, 2002
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Gerrard, M., Gibbons, F.X., Reis-Bergan, M., Trudeau, L.,
Vande Lune, L., & Buunk, B.P. (2002). Inhibitory effects
of drinker and non-drinker prototypes on adolescent alcohol
consumption. Health Psychology, 21 , 601-609. ).
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