They found fear appeals to be effective, especially when they contained recommendations for one-time only (versus repeated) behaviors and if the targeted audience included a larger percentage of women. This is because present-oriented goals are more important than future-oriented, protection-related goals when one perceives her timeline to be limited. 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 . Still, the CFM introduces the notion that the emotion of fear influences how carefully persuasive messages are processed, which in turn has implications for the direction and endurance of persuasive effect. APA Dictionary of Psychology Fear appeals have three major components: the message, the audience, and the recommended behavior. The term fear is reserved for referencing the emotion experienced by audiences in response to fear appeal messages. 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. Politics latest updates: Union leader Pat Cullen says nurses are pushed Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. 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. Warnings about the unwanted consequences of smoking, texting while driving, and drinking while pregnant can be considered fear appeals. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the However, the prediction that fear, but not anger, would be associated with less careful information processing when expectation of reassurance was high was not supported. It presents a risk, presents the vulnerability to the risk, and then may, or may not suggest a form of protective action. Fear messages that let the audience know they can perform the recommended behavior or that the behavior will have a positive result are more effective than fear appeal messages without mention of recommended actions. For generations of health educators, public health campaigns around health issues emphasized positive messages and highlighted . Psychological Bulletin, 141, 11781204. 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As OKeefe (2003) argues, it is important to differentiate between message features and message effects, and if researchers are to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind fear appeal effects and the specific role that the emotion of fear plays in this process, they need to clearly distinguish not only message features from their psychological effects but also emotional responses from cognitive ones. Effects of persuasive communication and group discussions on acceptability of anti-speeding policies for male and female drivers. In his parallel process model (PPM), Leventhal argues that one of two responses to a fear appeal is likely. If the threat appraisals are more dominant than the efficacy appraisals, individuals will seek to diminish their aroused fear through maladaptive behaviors, such as denigrating the message source or rationalizing their unhealthy behaviors. Further, additional perspectives, like the cognitive functional model, ask how messages that evoke emotions other than fear might influence persuasive outcome, with growing attention to the role of specific emotions, such as guilt, anger, and hope. 8.2.2 Types of appeals in health communication - Open University Describe the "fear appeal" and how it's used in public health messaging. 2020 Jul;39(5):376-379. doi: 10.1080/01459740.2020.1745481. 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). 2022 Oct 10;17(10):e0275854. More than 92 million benzodiazepine prescriptions are yearly dispensed in the US, yet little is known about the experiences of those taking them. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Witte and Allen (2000), in their meta-analysis, did not find a significant relationship between trait anxiety and post-message attitudes, intentions, or behaviors. Using Communication Theory for Health Promotion: Practical - JSTOR 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. However, there is mixed evidence as to trait anxietys impact on fear appeal effects. There are many messages that convey important information about potential harm; however, if the . Whereas some . With a smaller set of studies (between 17 and 33), the authors also analyzed the relationship between fear appeal manipulations in the message content and cognitions. Fear appeals to promote better health behaviors: an investigation of 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. 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. Despite the wealth of research on the effects of fear-based messages, numerous limitations have been pointed out in the existing literature. sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal Differing motives in a particular situation shapes reactions and perceptions of the experience. 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. The site is secure. Fear appeals obviously aren't limited to comets. There is a maximum effective value of fear. Fear appeals are persuasive messages that emphasize the potential danger and harm that will befall individuals if they do not adopt the messages recommendations. Fear appeals work for many public health messages, but not for COVID-1 Among the "Big Five" personality traits, conscientiousness isespecially predictive of living a longer life. 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. On the other hand, proponents argue that fear appeals positively affect attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, with one meta-analysis reporting an average effect size of d = 0.29 (Tannenbaum et al., 2015 ). Describe the "fear appeal" and how it's used in public health messaging DOI: 10.1002/ijop.12042, Tannenbaum, M. B., Hepler, J., Zimmerman, R. S., Saul, L., Jacobs, S., Wilson, K., & Albarracin, D. (2015). Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. 2020 Jun 22;140(10). Y ou probably still remember public service ads that scared you: The cigarette smoker with throat cancer. Paul Mongeau also addresses the history and current state of the fear appeal literature in his chapter of the second edition of The Sage Handbook of Persuasion: Developments in Theory and Practice. These include distrust in public health authorities, skepticism of health messaging, a lack of uptake in recommended behaviors, and a plethora of other unintended consequences. In place of focusing solely on the persuasive effects of fear, theorizing since the 1990s has shifted to understanding the role of other emotionswhether evoked by messages designed to produce fear or designed to simply be emotionalon persuasive outcomes. 8600 Rockville Pike The EPPM represented a merger of the PPM and the PMT, but it also recognized the importance of the emotion of fear itself in understanding message effects. Hubenschmid L, Helmreich I, Kber G, Gilan D, Frenzel SB, van Dick R, Lieb K. Front Public Health. 2020 Summer;32(2):221-228. doi: 10.24869/psyd.2020.221. Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories. 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. A fear appeal, in health promotion, is when health promoters, trying to inspire change in behavior from high risk to lowered risk, place emphasis of a health message on the use of gruesome fear content or try to arouse fear responses in the audience (Witte, 1992). 2023 Feb 7;20(4):2896. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20042896. The results replicated previous meta-analyses, demonstrating a significant positive relationship between fear appeal manipulations and attitudes, intentions, and behaviors (average weighted d = .29). In essence, different types of audiences with different predispositions are likely to respond differently to fear appeals. Although these meta-analyses focus on different variables used across different fear-appeal theories, together they provide helpful evidence for any theory that utilizes the variables each meta-analysis addressed. (2015) conducted a meta-analysis based on 248 independent samples from studies that contained a treatment group exposed to a fear appeal; a comparison group (described by the authors as a group that was either not exposed to a message or exposed to a message specifically designed to not evoke fear, or exposed to a message meant to induce less fear than the treatment groups message); a manipulation of depicted fear; and a measure of attitudes, intentions, or behaviors. 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. Fear appeals are more effective for women because women tend to be more prevention-focused than men. How to Stop Your Mind When It Spins Out of Control. Thus, the influence of the emotional arousal versus its related cognitions is often blurred. In their experiment, participants who saw the most graphic and frightening images of tooth decay and poor oral hygiene rated the material as the most worrisome and interesting compared to those in other conditions who saw less disturbing images or just heard a lecture about cavities. The information bombardment on social media is loaded with them. Moreover, Richard Lazaruss discussion of fear in his 1991 book Emotion and Adaptation offers a useful overview of the emotion from the perspective of cognitive appraisal theory and social psychology more generally. 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. There is growing evidence in multiple media contexts, including health messages (e.g., Dunlop, Wakefield, & Kashima, 2010) that the emotionality of media messages, regardless of valence, is associated with their diffusing through social networks. Such messages are most effective when they provide compelling arguments for the likelihood of negative outcomes if a certain advocated measure is not adopted, and when the arguments make a strong case that adopting the measure will . Although these are presented in chronological order here, it is important to note that the evolution of fear appeal theorizing reflects a combination of attempts to build on previous theory alongside overarching changes in psychological research that shifted from motivation-based approaches to more cognitively oriented approaches starting in the 1970s (for a review, see Nabi, 2007). Presenting a fear appeal more than doubles the probability of change relative to not presenting anything or presenting a low-fear appeal, said Albarracin. In light of findings like these, Janis (1967) later argued that the relationship between the elicitation of fear and adoption of the target behavior would be an inverted U-shaped curve. A campaign with gruesome photos of a person dying of lung cancer to combat smoking might make people think twice . The recently advanced emotional flow perspective (Nabi, 2015; Nabi & Green, 2015) builds on this recognition by arguing that messages, including fear appeals, evoke multiple emotions in sequence as the contents of the messages unfold. 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. Understanding Brain Circuits of Fear, Stress, and Anxiety, A message addressing the harmfulness of driving while drunk may have no effect on those who do not drive or drink, Breast cancer messages are typically directed toward women who have a larger personal risk of bodily harm than men (although men may be impacted by their concern for female loved ones), Public service announcements on the lethal dangers of young people going to college without having received a meningitis vaccination, Billboards indicating the harmfulness of sexually transmitted diseases and promoting safe, Videos of terrible accidents due to texting while driving. Fifteen years later, Tannenbaum, Hepler, Zimmerman, Saul, Jacobs, Wilson et al. 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. Exerting effort may be preferred to doing nothing at all. In light of the limitations of previous theorizing, and coinciding with an increased interest in affect and emotion in the psychology literature (Lazarus, 1991), Witte (1992) proposed the extended parallel process model (EPPM). Additionally, researchers have investigated the effects of fear in other message contexts, from news media to user-generated digital content. Are Scare Tactics Off the Table for Public Health Campaigns Targeting 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. I believe that most current approaches to anxiety fall short because they are predicated on the medical model, which views anxiety as an illness. With initial exposure to a fear appeal, recipients engage in a threat appraisal. In Public Health's Response to Covid, Fear Tactics Are a Misstep The emotional flow perspective suggests that the threat information results in fear arousal, and the efficacy information is associated with feelings of hope. However, despite anecdotal evidence that physicians communication may trigger fear in patients for the purpose of motivating behavior change or compliance, the intentional use of fear-based messages in the clinical context has not received attention in the academic literature. Coping information Describe the "fear appeal" and how it's used in public health messaging Register for the early bird rate. The .gov means its official. Careers. 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. The fear-as-acquired drive model (often referred to as the drive model) argues that stimuli that evoke fear result in a drive to avoid the unpleasant emotional state (Hovland, Janis, & Kelly, 1953). Bethesda, MD 20894, Web Policies Fear-based advertising is a specific type of social marketing that employs scare tactics or other anxiety-producing mechanisms to highlight the dangers of engaging (or not engaging) in a certain practice, like smoking or drunken driving. How Fear Appeal Approaches in COVID-19 Health Communication May Be Motivated attention refers to the degree of approach or avoidance response to the message based on the receivers initial emotional response; motivated processing refers to how motivated the message receiver is to process the message carefully; and message expectations pertain to the audiences degree of certainty that the message will offer reassurance or not. fear appeal. Fear appeals are often used in public health service announcements and health behavior change campaigns. The contributors demonstrate the necessity of basing message design decisions on appropriate theories of human behavior and communication effectiveness by synthesizing and integrating knowledge and insights from theory and research in communication and health behavior change. Accessibility One critique of the general study of fear-based persuasive appeals is that such research is typically studied in the lab rather than in real-world contexts in which message exposure and processing are not controlled and discussion of those messages with friends and family is possible. Designing Health Messages: Approaches from Communication Theory and A review of the literature on more general gender differences in fear may also help explain potential gender differences in responses to fear appeals. Specifically, the CFM predicts that an individual experiencing message-relevant fear who is also uncertain as to whether the rest of the message will contain reassuring information (i.e., it may help alleviate fear, but full exposure is necessary to know for sure) would be most likely to carefully process the message. The use of fear to motivate behavior change is well-documented across the lifespan. Although little attention has been given to how specific personality traits impact reactions to fear appeals, there are good reasons to believe that they matter and should be looked at more carefully in the future. 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. 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. Schweinhart A, Arambur C, Bauer R, Simons-Rudolph A, Atwood K, Luseno WK. That is because threat perceptions are necessary to elicit fear but efficacy perceptions are necessary to promote protection motivation. Insincere behavior may be saying or doing what an individual believes others want to hear or to gain favor to reap future rewards. In order to fully support or reject tenets the original EPPM, additional research is needed. For example. A perceived threat has two subcomponents (a) perceived . 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. Currently, scholars are considering how emotions in addition to fear influence the effect of fear appeals (e.g., emotional flow) and possible moderators of fear appeal effects. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275854. How can peoples attitudes and behavior be changed? Which can you control and which can you not? The third component recommended behavior is important because it gives instruction on what to do to avert or reduce the risk of harm. Longitudinal work on fear appeal exposure and responses, as well as research on the influence of more prevalent use of fear appeals versus other message strategies, could help confirm or dismiss these possibilities. It's the meaning we attach to them and the way we act on behalf of them. Nat Med. Goldenbeld, C., Twisk, D., & Houwing, S. (2008). A fear appeal is a persuasive message that attempts to arouse fear in order to divert behavior through the threat of impending danger or harm. Epub 2020 Mar 26. This type of message is conveyed to frighten and arouse people into action by emphasising the serious outcome from not taking action. Preparing for your first therapy session beforehand can help manage anxiety. More recently, scholars have adopted a more nuanced approach, noting that messages that include both threat components and efficacy components, and thus are well-categorized as fear appeals, can evoke other emotions in addition to fear and that these other emotions have unique influence on persuasive outcomes. eCollection 2022. 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. The following study examines social facilitation of eating cues in anti-obesity fear appeals to determine . The authors note that scientific studies of fear-based campaigns around the world draw mixed conclusions: some reject the approach; others conclude that "the stronger the fear appeal the better." 180 on Fear. 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. Hovland, Janis, and Kelly noted that habituated behaviors can be adaptive in that they target the threat itself and aim to reduce or eliminate it. Fear Arousal and Health and Risk Messaging | Oxford Research The physical expression of fear not only represents the bodys readiness to protect itself, but it also serves a social function by warning others of nearby threats and alerting them that help may be needed.
