While these types of messages are commonly used in political, public health and commercial advertising campaigns (e.g., smoking will kill you, Candidate A will destroy the economy), their use is controversial as academics continue to debate their effectiveness. That is, though significant relationships between fear and persuasion have been identified, meta-analyses have found mixed support for the threat by efficacy interactions predicted by the EPPM (de Hoog, Stroebe, & de Wit, 2007; Witte & Allen, 2000). In essence, the fear depicted in the message is so great that rather than deal with it, people stop listening, viewing, or reading it. Further, there is evidence that campaigns targeting adolescents risky health behaviors are at high risk for failure due to the likelihood of reactance, or resistance to having behavioral choices controlled by others. As the United States faces out-of-control spikes from Covid-19, with people refusing to take recommended, often even mandated, precautions, our public health announcements from governments,. The emotion of feara negatively valenced response to a threatis an innate experience, and one that likely evolved from mammalian defense systems (hman, 2008). Describe the "fear appeal" and how it's used in public health messaging Psychiatry for Better World: COVID-19 and Blame Games People Play from Public and Global Metal Health Perspective. With initial exposure to a fear appeal, recipients engage in a threat appraisal. a mask. Are Scare Tactics Off the Table for Public Health Campaigns Targeting Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Communication. Thus, the influence of the emotional arousal versus its related cognitions is often blurred. There is also the possibility that arousing fear could result in a defensive response or risk denial; particularly, among those who are most susceptible to the threat (Ruiter, Kessels, Peters, & Kok, 2014). As such, careful attention to both the contexts in which fear appeals are most appropriate for adolescent audiences and how such messages are structured is warranted. In this article, we discuss the use of fear appeals during the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential negative sociobehavioral outcomes fear-based messaging may have. The information bombardment on social media is loaded with them. In essence, different types of audiences with different predispositions are likely to respond differently to fear appeals. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the Given that fear-based messages, which may be perceived as a more manipulative message style, carry a higher likelihood of defensive processing and reactance, fear appeals may be a risky message strategy to use for this age group. It's Time to Scare People About Covid - The New York Times Fear-appeal research has focused almost exclusively on mediated messages. In addition, understanding how fear-based messages fit within the general context of other emotion-based messagesor how fear works with other emotions within the same messageis somewhat uncharted territory. Some individuals, known as monitors, tend to experience more anxiety and prefer more, rather than less, information about health threats; whereas blunters instead avoid information related to threats. In a similar analysis, messages that included severity (d = .23) or susceptibility (d = .43) or both (d = .39) had stronger effects on outcomes than messages that did not include these threat components (d = .12). This is a critical because if audiences stop paying attention to a fear appeal after the presentation of the threat, they may miss out on the efficacy information that is critical to a fear-based messages success. Indeed, in a systematic review of the EPPM literature, Popova (2012) found that two of Wittes (1992) propositions, (a) when perceived efficacy is at a moderate level, perceived threat will have an inverted-U-shaped effect on message acceptance, and (b) when perceived efficacy is at a high level, there is a reciprocal relationship between perceived threat and fear, have yet to be empirically tested. a fear appeal message is the amount of fear it is intended to arouse in message recipients. As such, fear is an emotion that frequently attracts the attention of scholars and message designers who hope to persuade audiences to change their behavior in light of potential threats to well-being and public safety. National Library of Medicine Given that theories of motivation were losing favor to those that focused on cognition in the field of psychology in the 1970s, it is unsurprising that the next major advance in fear appeal theorizing focused on the cognitive elements associated with fear appeal effectiveness. The third component recommended behavior is important because it gives instruction on what to do to avert or reduce the risk of harm. However, if efficacy appraisals are strong enough to dominate threat appraisals, the EPPM predicts that individuals will feel capable of addressing the threat and will then enact adaptive, danger-control behaviors. Fear appeals that recommend one-time behaviors are more effective than appeals that recommend repeated behaviors. Fear alone does not change behavior. Thus, it may be that blunters may respond better to shorter, more direct fear appeals whereas monitors may be more willing to engage with longer or more detailed fear-inducing messages. Rather, the research on provider communication has focused on how the use of empathic communication by physicians may help reduce existing anxiety in their patients. Two decades later, Howard Leventhals work provides helpful summaries of those who came before as well as his own conceptualization of the parallel process model. Next, these cognitive perceptions form a feedback loop with fear, as well as interact with each other to either predict protection motivation (which then predicts message acceptance) or defensive motivation (which then predicts message rejection). Designing Health Messages: Approaches from Communication Theory and Fear appeals obviously aren't limited to comets. Ethical Considerations on the Use of Fear in Public Health Campaigns Multiple book chapters also provide nice overviews of the existing research on the emotion of fear. Once evoked, fear manifests itself physically in multiple ways, including changes in facial expressions (e.g., wide-open eyes and raised eyelids) and the body (e.g., increased heart rate) (hman, 2008). PMC That is, too little fear or too much fear would push individuals toward maladaptive behaviors that quickly reduce the aversive state, such as problem minimization or source derogation, without offering true protection from the threat. A researcher searching for literature on fear, fear appeals, or the role of fear in message outcomes will likely find an astounding number books, journal articles, encyclopedia entries, and even essays to examine. If fear appeal messages are defined or identified based primarily on their ability to elicit fear, message design elements and message response become conflated, which interferes with gaining insight into the message components responsible for generating the desired fear response (OKeefe, 2003). The fear-arousal appeal. Substance cues are used in these types of prevention messages in order to gain and keep attention (Clayton et al., 2017a) and potentially inhibit message rejection when a fear appeal is present (Bailey et al., 2018; Sarge and Gong, 2019). Ultimately, only 2.5% of stories included all four components associated with fear appeals. Using Communication Theory for Health Promotion: Practical - JSTOR Moreover, they may perceive themselves to be less able to avoid the harms associated with risky health behaviors (Cohn, Macfarlane, Yanez, & Imai, 1995). Fear is a negatively valenced discrete emotional state that is an inherent part of the human experience. There is a maximum effective value of fear. As such, it is evident that fear is used to persuade even very young audiences. While meta-analyses support the claim that on the aggregate, fear-based messages are persuasive, researchers are still working to explain why fear appeals work and for whom they work best and under what conditions. Fear-arousal appeals might be effective for a person with little or no schooling. How can peoples attitudes and behavior be changed? Understanding the personalities of the audience (e.g., the typical characteristics and traits of women in comparison to men, or of adolescents versus young or middle-aged people, or of those who are health conscious versus those who are not) will help in designing a campaign that is better directed toward the targeted individuals. As such, message components of fear appeals include threat and efficacy. It's frequently used in public health campaigns such as anti-smoking, anti-drunk driving, and hypertension awareness campaigns. Indeed, the Tannenbaum et al. For example, fear appeals begin with threat information followed by efficacy information. The physical experience of fear is generated by an extensive network of fear-related neural structures in the brain, particularly the amygdala (Lang, Davis, & hman, 2000; hman, 2008). How 'fear appeals' and disinformation may be manipulating the public on Although these meta-analyses seem to converge on a small but significant relationship between fear and persuasion-related outcomes, the mechanisms of fear appeal effects are still not entirely clear. These included two perceptions related to the potential threat: severity of the threat and susceptibility to it. For example, Myrick and Oliver (2015) found that feeling fearful after watching a YouTube public-service announcement about skin cancer was a positive predictor of intentions to share the video with others. government site. Describe the "fear appeal" and how it's used in public health messaging A review of the literature on more general gender differences in fear may also help explain potential gender differences in responses to fear appeals. Moreover, research also suggests that fear may motivate social sharing of messages, which can in turn allow for more widespread influence of fear-based messages. After decades of research, it is clear that fear can indeed motivate positive health behaviors and that exposure to information about threat susceptibility, severity, response efficacy, and self-efficacy is key to this process. Indeed, though meta-analyses support a linear relationship between fear arousal and persuasive outcomes, recent methodologies suggest that shifts in experienced fear across a fear appeal, an inverted-U pattern of fear responses specifically, may also be a valid predictor of the persuasiveness of a fear appeal (Meczkowski, Dillard, & Shen, 2016). Most directly relevant, Goodall, Sabo, Cline, and Egbert (2012) conducted a content analysis of print and electronic news coverage of the H1N1 virus from a fear appeal perspective, looking for the appearance of threat and efficacy information within the news coverage. Rooted in appraisal theories of emotions (e.g., Lazarus, 1991), the EFM argues that when a message contains information that is relevant to an emotions core relational theme, or the essential perception that underlies an emotional experience, that particular emotion is aroused. Y ou probably still remember public service ads that scared you: The cigarette smoker with throat cancer. If news stories are processed as fear appeals, this composition suggests concern that health stories are not reaching their potential to positively influence the health behaviors of audiences. Generally, the findings reveal that fear appeals do work; however, more specific results were also discovered (Tannenbaum et al, 2015). Exerting effort may be preferred to doing nothing at all. Thus, in this context, the emphasis is on how existing fear or anxiety may be minimized by the providers communication style rather than the providers communication being the stimulus for fear. Describe the "fear appeal" and how it's used in public health messaging. However, if the curvilinear hypothesis suggested by the drive model were the best model of fear appeal effects, this value would be negative and significant. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. He says there are three ways to look at the local elections. These emotions may also have an effect on behavioral changes. One emotion that often affects attitudes and behavior is fear. The CFM predicts that because fears action tendency motivates individuals to avoid threatening situations, message-related fear should predispose audiences to want to avoid giving further attention to the message. 2020 Jun 22;140(10). Empirical research, however, did not readily support the predicted curvilinear relationship between fear arousal and influence. As this study suggests, more nuanced methodological approaches are needed to better understand how individuals experience fear appeals over the course of message exposure. How Blame and Shame Can Fuel Depression in Rape Victims, Getting More Hugs Is Linked to Fewer Symptoms of Depression, Interacting With Outgroup Members Reduces Prejudice, Practice Improves the Potential for Future Plasticity, How Financial Infidelity Can Affect Your Gray Divorce. Although not specifically documented, the pervasiveness and endurance of cautionary tales in childrens literature suggest that such narratives are believed to be influential; and in light of the growing evidence of the persuasive influence of narratives on adults (Green, 2006; Green & Brock, 2000), there is reason to believe such stories do, indeed, have the desired influence on children. Undoubtedly, most of us have been exposed to fear appeal campaigns regarding health issues, politics, and traffic and driving safety. Although no new models of fear appeals have specifically been advanced since the EPPM, theorists have considered how a range of emotions, including fear, might generate persuasive effect. For the 71 studies in their sample that reported perceived fear, the meta-analysis revealed that treatment groups reported greater perceived fear than comparison groups, d = 1.00. Fear Arousal and Health and Risk Messaging | Oxford Research For generations of health educators, public health campaigns around health issues emphasized positive messages and highlighted . Fear appeals to promote better health behaviors: an investigation of a persuasive message that is designed to alter attitudes by producing fear in the recipient. Book chapters that discuss fears role in communication and media processes and effects also provide helpful overviews of the state of the literature as well as suggestions for future research directions. Fear appeals have three major components: the message, the audience, and the recommended behavior. Shir-Raz Y, Elisha E, Martin B, Ronel N, Guetzkow J. Minerva. There has been so much written about fear and the role of fear in risk-related messages that one can get easily overwhelmed with the voluminous responses to search queries for the terms. Marco Yzer, Brian Southwell, and Michael Stephenson discuss the use of fear in public communication campaigns in their chapter in the fourth edition of Public Communication Campaigns. However, more recent theorizing has returned to a focus on the influence that the emotion of fear itself has on attitude and behavior change. Further, of the studies that do measure fear, they tend to do so in very limited ways, typically self-report of emotional arousal in response to the message generally. Print 2020 Jun 30. Evidence from a meta-analysis of fear appeals found that appeals targeting female-dominated audiences are more effective than those targeting male audiences, likely because women tend to be more prevention focused in that they are more sensitive to avoiding negative outcomes than to seeking positive outcomes (Tannenbaum et al., 2015). Once a moderate amount of fear is conveyed, there is no further benefit in adding more fear. Empirical work is needed, however, to test if and how differences between fear and anxiety manifest themselves across multiple persuasion contexts. Fifteen years later, Tannenbaum, Hepler, Zimmerman, Saul, Jacobs, Wilson et al. HHS Vulnerability Disclosure, Help A student interested in the historical roots of fear appeal theorizing could start with seminal pieces from Carl Hovlands Yale research group, including the 1953 book by Hovland, Janis, and Kelly titled Communication and Persuasion: Psychological Studies of Opinion Change, as well as later journal articles reporting empirical data related to fear appeals. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Fear appeals are more effective for women because women tend to be more prevention-focused than men. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. Are You Sore, Stiff, and Unrested When You Wake Up? Since the 1950s, researchers have addressed strategic fear appeal effects, continually refining answers to the questions of when, why, and for whom they are persuasive. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Before Participants read news stories designed to evoke either fear or hope about the human papilloma virus (HPV) and with different levels of response efficacy information regarding the impending HPV vaccine. Additionally, researchers have investigated the effects of fear in other message contexts, from news media to user-generated digital content. Further, blunters were significantly more likely to actually obtain a mammogram in response to the more direct messages. Censorship and Suppression of Covid-19 Heterodoxy: Tactics and Counter-Tactics. fear appeal. For instance, Myrick, Holton, Himelboim, and Love (2016) content analyzed tweets about cancer that included the hashtag #stupidcancer, which is particularly popular with young-adult members of the online cancer community. When people are aware of a threat, the aversive state of fear quickly follows. Several theories have aimed to describe the effects of fear-based appeals on audiences, focusing largely on the cognitive correlates of fear (i.e., severity and susceptibility) and their subsequent impacts on persuasive outcomes. For example, Nabi (1999) proposed the cognitive-functional model (CFM) to advance the literature on negative emotional appeals generally, including specific predictions regarding the role of fear in mediated persuasion. Conversely, the frequent use of fear appeals across a range of issues could possibly result in a chronic sense of heightened anxiety. Give an example or create your own public health message using the fear appeal. An overview of the scholarly work on the emotion of fear, fear appeal theories, and fear as a variable that impacts post-message attitudes and behaviors can provide insights as to what is currently known, as well as what remains to be learned about how fear can be incorporated into persuasive messages and to what effect. Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited. Men have long been silent and stoic about their inner lives, but theres every reason for them to open up emotionallyand their partners are helping. One Personality Trait Predicts Longevity More Than OthersBut Why? Although it is applied more in the context of news than persuasion, the EFM has the potential to assist in understanding how fear-based messages might generate persuasive influence by emphasizing how emotion-relevant information is more likely to be attended to later in the message and how post-message behaviors are likely to be consistent with emotional motivations. Careers. However, these gender differences are likely moderated by gender-role socialization processes such that expressions of fear are typically looked down on for men but not women, resulting in a cycle whereby fearful reactions by women are both tolerated and expected by other members of society (McLean & Anderson, 2009). 8.2.2 Types of appeals in health communication - Open University This research suggests that exposure to health news storiesfear-generating ones in particularcan influence audience health behaviors, but that the traditional fear appeal structure does not always translate to the news context. Repeated exposure could possibly promote complacency among those who see frightening messages but are not directly targeted or do not perceive themselves to be in the target audience. How to Stop Your Mind When It Spins Out of Control. Thus, the model proved unhelpful for both predicting responses to fear appeals as well as to fear appeal message design. Answer: Fear appeal is simply a message (most commonly found in advertising) which is intended to bring fear to its audience; They either encourage or discourage their audience from participating in a specific behavior. (2015) calculated an average weighted effect size comparing groups exposed to moderate fear versus those exposed to high depicted fear. This deeper processing in the face of uncertainty occurs, according to the CFM, because the audience member is trying to find some piece of information that might satisfy the fear-induced goal of protection. That is, the message might not only be rejected by the audience, but the behavior that the message intended to change could become further entrenched.

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