Abstract: Because of its wide use in modern advertising, emotional appeal has become one of the most prevalent studies in advertising psychology in the West with the concentration on the following aspects: the functional mechanism and communication effects of emotional appeal and the relevant factors that may influence the communication effects of emotional appeal. Some of the existing problems that need to be further studied are pointed out on the basis of a systematic review of some recent researches

Key words: emotional appeal, ELM, attention, persuasion