Threat Severity and Threat Susceptibility, along with Response Efficacy and Self Efficacy, are concepts adapted from theories of health risk messages and fear appeals (e.g., Dr. R.W. Roger’s Protection Motivation Model and Albert Bandura’s conception of Efficacy).
Informational Links
- Consumer Health Informatics Research Resource: Response Efficacy, Self-Efficacy
- Wikipedia Self Efficacy
The application of efficacy in Affect Engineering is centered on the relationship between the individual, the response, the threat and a particular entity being valued by the individual for fulfilling a purpose. Like threat, the use of efficacy in Affect Engineering makes use of contingencies. In the example described, a negative contingency between the response and the threat will be used for simplicity’s sake.
In short, Response Efficacy is an assessment of how effective a recommended behavior is at preventing a threat of harm. In this case, the threat of harm would be to the original entity being valued for a purpose.
Self-Efficacy is the individual’s assessment of how likely he or she will perform the recommended behavior.
Efficacy is also implemented into the equation as an exponent, but it is in opposition to threat for both types of equations.
Avoidance of Pain Function
Perceived Response Efficacy and Self Efficacy are modeled above as an exponent in the Avoidance of Pain function. The values for each of the two variables may be between zero and one, though neither may equal zero (i.e., can not divide by zero). Efficacy is modeled to counter the influence of threat. As Response Efficacy approaches one (e.g., recommended behavior is 100% successful at preventing threat of harm) and Self Efficacy approaches one (100% likelihood the individual will do it) the valuation of the entity (Emotional Units and anxiety invested in the entity) reduces to its Existential value of positive one over time. As Efficacy approaches zero, the valuation approaches positive infinity Although multiplication is used to describe the relationship between Response Efficacy and Self Efficacy above, they may be decoupled with addition in a similar fashion to the Utility variables in the base of the equation. The Appraisal variable in the above formula would be positive one (+1).
Pursuit of Pleasure Function
Perceived Response Efficacy and Self Efficacy are modeled above as an exponent in the Pursuit of Pleasure function. The values for each of the two variables may be between zero and one, though both can not equal one (i.e., can not divide by zero. Efficacy is modeled to counter the influence of threat. As Response Efficacy approaches one (e.g., recommended behavior is 100% successful at preventing threat of harm) and Self Efficacy approaches one (100% likelihood the individual will do it) the valuation of the entity (negative Emotional Units and negative anxiety invested in the entity) descends towards negative infinity one over time. The different setup for the Pursuit of Pleasure function reflects the notion that if there is a threat of harm to an entity already in adequate supply (i.e., acquiring more of it will lead away from equilibrium and homeostasis), and that threat of harm is prevented, then it will lead to an increase in pleasure for the specific purpose, as opposed to an decrease pain if the entity were needed to achieve equilibrium. Although multiplication is used to describe the relationship between Response Efficacy and Self-Efficacy above, they may be decoupled with addition in a similar fashion to the Utility variables in the base of the equation. The Appraisal variable in the above formula would be negative one (-1).
In Affect Engineering, the magnitude and type of a particular emotion felt is gauged by the slope a function, hence, by finding the derivative of a function at a particular point in time. Threat and Efficacy, therefore, are modeled to play a significant role in the amplification and de-amplification of an entity’s original valuation, thus leading to the formation different outcomes. Their roles, however, can be reduced, increased, or held constant by attention and reasoning, as will be shown.