{"id":2080,"slug":"witte-eppm-efficacy-pairing","title":"Witte EPPM — fear appeals MOTIVATE only when paired with efficacy","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["fear-appeal-efficacy-pairing"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** Witte's Extended Parallel Process Model and Witte & Allen (2000) meta-analysis:\n\n- **High threat + high efficacy** → adaptive \"danger control\" (action).\n- **High threat + LOW efficacy** → maladaptive \"fear control\" (denial, defensive avoidance, fatalism, reactance).\n- Under low efficacy, **increasing threat trends NEGATIVE**.\n\n**Source:** Witte, Witte & Allen 2000 meta-analysis. Foundational.\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**Why this matters for Candid:** The widget MUST always pair a difficulty result with a clear feasible first step. For High/Very High tiers, lead with the PATH, not the threat. A \"you're behind\" verdict with no path produces fatalism, not action.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-smb-widget-presenting-tiers-june-2026","title":"Research brief: SMB widget presentation layer — tiered results without overclaiming (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"rule-pair-hard-tier-with-feasible-next-step","title":"Rule — Every \"hard\" tier ships with a feasible, proximal first step","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:03.453Z","updated_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:03.453Z"}