An experiment was performed to test two hypotheses. One was that there would be a curvilinear relationship between increased degrees of a negative communication and persuasion, and the other was that there would be a positive and linear relationship between a positive communication and persuasion. College undergraduate smokers and nonsmokers were given false physiological feedback in order to manipulate their perceptions of different types of arousal (positive, negative, and control) and varying degrees of arousal (low, moderate, high, and control). The results showed that perceptions of negative arousal were related to belief acceptance and attitudes, while positive arousal were related to behavioral intentions. The results also demonstrated support for Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory in that beliefs predicted attitudes, while attitudes predicted intentions. However, subjective norms also predicted attitudes and both attitudes and intentions predicted behaviors. The results not only demonstrate the importance of distinguishing between beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors when assessing the effects of persuasive communications, but also show the importance of distinguishing between communications differing in type of emotional impact (positive or negative). (Author)