Fear alone does not change behavior. This is because present-oriented goals are more important than future-oriented, protection-related goals when one perceives her timeline to be limited. At a methodological level, many studies of fear appeals fail to measure the emotion of fear itself as an outcome, instead analyzing only threat and efficacy cognitions. 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). The meta-analysis did not, however, directly address interactions between the threat and efficacy elements. The information bombardment on social media is loaded with them. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 11, 207-220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2007.11.001, Ruiter, R. A., Kessels, L. T, E., Peters, G. Y., & Kok, G. (2014). MeSH Fear, in turn, motivates protective behavior and a strong desire to escape the threat. We encourage public health professionals to reevaluate their desire to use fear appeals in COVID-19 health communication and recommend that evidence-based health communication be utilized to address the needs of a specific community, help people understand what they are being asked to do, explain step-by-step how to complete preventative behaviors, and consider external factors needed to support the uptake of behaviors. People cope with potentially threatening information in different ways. 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). Multiple studies have supported the predictive power of the emotions-as-frames perspective, demonstrating not only that different emotion frames lead to different ways of viewing problems and preferred solutions but also that emotion is an important mediator of that process (e.g., Khne & Schemer, 2015). As the drive model lost favor, researchers began exploring alternative explanations for why stronger fear appeal messages could lead to greater adaptive responses, while still accounting for the evidence that sometimes, fear appeals lead to maladaptive responses. 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. The discussion establishes that fear appeal-based public health messages (i.e. Their results indicated that most stories (86%) referenced threat and of these, 94% did so in the first third of the story. Indeed, Nabi and Prestin (2016) conducted experimental research to examine the influence of the structure of news stories that incorporated fear. Yet, little attention has been paid to this issue. Describe the "fear appeal" and how it's used in public health messaging 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. Though the four cognitions identified in the PMT proved important to persuasive outcomes in response to fear appeals, the specific relationships among them as asserted by the theory were not fully supported by empirical evidence. Fear appeals are more effective for women because women tend to be more prevention-focused than men. Although the predicted interaction between threat and efficacy appraisals lies at the heart of the EPPM, the full model includes 12 propositions detailing numerous intricate relationships between the different types of cognitions, fear, and message effectiveness (Witte, 1992). Hope this helps Describe the "fear appeal" and how it's used in public health messaging National Center for Biotechnology Information Insincere behavior may be saying or doing what an individual believes others want to hear or to gain favor to reap future rewards. Fear-arousal appeals might be effective for a person with little or no schooling. This theoretical perspective also argues that older individuals have better memory for positive information than for negative information, suggesting that the threat component of fear appeals may not be as memorable as the efficacy component for this particular audience. Communication, collaboration and cooperation can stop the 2019 coronavirus. An official website of the United States government. The site is secure. Further, the threat coverage was frequently sensationalistic, with more than half of stories referring to pandemic, outbreak, or death in ways disproportionate to the actual threat. This paper provides an insight into the use of fear appeals to communicate a public health message. Many of us are reluctant to change our perceptions or habits, even though we know we would be happier and healthier. Thus, despite the sustained attention that fear-based messages have received in the past, many questions still remain for future research to address. Visit one of the web links below and review the health promotion message. From a message-design standpoint, the EPPM suggests that fear-arousing messages should include both threat and efficacy information if they are to persuade audiences to take adaptive actions. Most notably, Leventhal (1970, 1971) argued that fear appeals evoked two separate but simultaneous processes: an emotional fear control reaction and a primarily cognitive danger-control reaction. Importantly, Witte and Allen (2000) did not find support for the EPPMs predicted threat by efficacy interaction. When a growing body of empirical evidence found a positive linear relationship between fear and persuasion (that is, the more frightened participants were, the more persuasive the message, generally speaking), the drive model no longer seemed a plausible explanation for why fear appeals affect audiences (Beck & Frankel, 1981; Giesen & Hendrick, 1974; Mewborn & Rogers, 1979). 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. Exerting effort may be preferred to doing nothing at all. Coping information 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. APA 2023 registration is now open! Shoba Sreenivasan, Ph.D., and Linda E. Weinberger, Ph.D. Find a therapist to combat fear and anxiety, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2007.11.001, Small Hassles, Big Stress: Why the Little Things Get to Us, How to Tell if Your Relationships Are Genuine, 18 Common Logical Fallacies and Persuasion Techniques, The 3 Parts of Anxiety: Thoughts, Emotions, and Behaviors, Using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to Discover What Motivates You, The 5 Types of People Who Withdraw From Social Life, Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Tied to Serious Long-Term Harms, How to Boost Your Courage Without Battling Your Fears, Why Sound Is So Important in Horror Movies, How to Prepare for Your First Therapy Session. Yet fear-based messages may also be transmitted interpersonally, particularly in healthcare environments. Visually, the EPPM is represented as a path model whereby the four message components in the external stimuli (i.e., self-efficacy, response efficacy, susceptibility, and severity) predict their related cognitive perceptions. Conclusion: Fear Appeals and Message Effects. In order to fully support or reject tenets the original EPPM, additional research is needed. Generally, the findings reveal that fear appeals do work; however, more specific results were also discovered (Tannenbaum et al, 2015). 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). found that this dynamic approach offered evidence in support of a curvilinear relationship between fear and persuasion. Fear-appeal research has focused almost exclusively on mediated messages. Yet, there is a growing body of literature on the social sharing of emotions that indicates that people have an instinctive need to disclose to others when they experience emotionally charged events, which has been widely documented across cultures, gender, and age groups (Rim, 2009). Most crucially, and from a practical standpoint, the controlled laboratory settings and forced message exposure used in many fear appeal studies may not translate to real-world settings. Further, current understanding of the role of individual differences as well as fears impact in contexts beyond direct persuasive messages, like news, entertainment, patient-provider dynamics, and social media, is likewise limited. Effects are most apparent in women and for one-time behaviors, says study. Would you like email updates of new search results? Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. Such research would, in turn, help determine what message structures would be best suited for which age groups and within what health contexts. Fear appeals are often used in public health service announcements and health behavior change campaigns. Reviewed by Lybi Ma. The term fear is reserved for referencing the emotion experienced by audiences in response to fear appeal messages. There are very few circumstances under which they are not effective and there are no identifiable circumstances under which they backfire and lead to undesirable outcomes, said Dolores Albarracin, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an author of the study, published in the journal Psychological Bulletin. These efforts have resulted in a number of theoretical perspectives that still inform modern-day work on the persuasive power of fear and its implications for message design. Combining aspects of cognitive-response theories of persuasion with the appraisal-based perspectives on emotion, the CFM focuses on the role of three concepts: motivated attention, motivated processing, and message expectations. Ethical Considerations on the Use of Fear in Public Health Campaigns As such, monitors and blunters may respond differently to fear appeal messages. Nat Med. With initial exposure to a fear appeal, recipients engage in a threat appraisal. messages are often used in political, public health, and advertising campaigns in the hopes of reducing risky attitudes, intentions, or behaviors, their use is often a polarizing issue. Thus, highlighting both actual risk of health-threatening behavior, especially occasional ones, to enhance perceived severity, as well as boosting self-efficacy to protect oneself from harm, may be particularly important message goals to match the psychological profile of adolescents. As such, each theory or model does not always present a direct response to its immediate predecessor. Differing motives in a particular situation shapes reactions and perceptions of the experience. For generations of health educators, public health campaigns around health issues emphasized positive messages and highlighted . How 'fear appeals' and disinformation may be manipulating the public on COVID Communication by public health officials during a pandemic may involve an organized strategy that includes some. The use of fear to motivate behavior change is well-documented across the lifespan. a fear appeal message is the amount of fear it is intended to arouse in message recipients. However, the conditions under which the emotion of fear and the cognitive perceptions related to threat and efficacy information produce productive persuasive effect remain unclear. 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. This relationship could indicate that individuals who are already in an anxious state of mind when presented with a fear appeal may be more accepting of the message than those who come to a message with less anxiety. Tannenbaum et al. A fear appeal is a means of persuasion that threatens the audience with a negative, physical . Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. All close relationships can elicit strong positive and negative emotions the parties have of one another. As with previous models, though EPPM offers an appealing explanation for when fear appeals may be more or less persuasive, research has not supported all of the EPPMs key predictions. That is because threat perceptions are necessary to elicit fear but efficacy perceptions are necessary to promote protection motivation. Social Facilitation in Fear Appeals Creates Positive Affect but These emotions may also have an effect on behavioral changes. 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. The emotion of feara negatively valenced response to a threatis an innate experience, and one that likely evolved from mammalian defense systems (hman, 2008).
1963 Topps Baseball Cards Most Valuable,
Jonathan Perry Timberlake,
Nation Of Islam Bean Pie,
Brandon Hantz Married,
Disney Travel Agent Rates 2021,
Articles H