explains the conditions under which fear appeals are likely to succeed. Therefore, they can be quite useful to practitioners. Our thoughts and feelings aren't the problem. Fear, in turn, motivates protective behavior and a strong desire to escape the threat. 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. 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. Once a moderate amount of fear is conveyed, there is no further benefit in adding more fear. The protection motivation theory is an attitude-based model. HHS Vulnerability Disclosure, Help Further, individual differences have been considered to determine who is most likely to experience fear during and after message consumption. 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. "These appeals are effective at changing attitudes, intentions and behaviors. Hope this helps Communication, collaboration and cooperation can stop the 2019 coronavirus. The .gov means its official. Throughout the history of the study of fear appeals, any message that evoked negative emotion would often be categorized as a fear appeal. Fear Appeals in Health Promotions: An Analysis of - Studentshare As such, message components of fear appeals include threat and efficacy. However, some evidence suggests a more nuanced picture. 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. How Fear Appeal Approaches in COVID-19 Health Communication May Be doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.20.0346. 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 to promote better health behaviors: an investigation of Social Facilitation in Fear Appeals Creates Positive Affect but The other two perceptions related to the target behavior: the effectiveness of the target behavior for avoiding the threat (response efficacy) and the ability of the individual to enact the target behavior (self-efficacy). Beginning with the very young, testing the influence of fear-based messages on children is a difficult area of empirical inquiry given the ethical implications of potential psychological trauma. 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. 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 . In order to motivate students to perform well academically, teachers and counselors will emphasize the importance of exams, papers, and classroom participation. Symbols such as dying people, coffins, gravestones or skulls may be used. Further, many of the 12 propositions originally articulated within the EPPM have not been consistently tested. Insincere behavior may be saying or doing what an individual believes others want to hear or to gain favor to reap future rewards. 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. 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 . Two years later, in their meta-analysis of 98 studies, Witte and Allen (2000) likewise found a moderately positive relationship between fear appeals and experienced fear (r = .30). Although this approach suggests that patient anxieties may be reduced through the presentation of efficacy-related information, which is consistent with fear-appeal messaging, there are large gaps in this area of research that would benefit from additional attention. (2015) meta-analysis did not examine the relationship between the amount of fear aroused and fear-appeal effects on persuasive outcomes. Ultimately, only 2.5% of stories included all four components associated with fear appeals. government site. If fear is used to motivate attitudinal and behavioral change, it should be used judiciously. Cognitively, fear is associated with uncertainty over the likely outcome and ones ability to cope with the current threat, which contributes to the motivation for avoidance and protection (Lazarus, 1991). Psychological Bulletin, 141, 11781204. However, more recent theorizing has returned to a focus on the influence that the emotion of fear itself has on attitude and behavior change. Fear appeals, also known as scare tactics, have been widely used to promote recommended preventive behaviors. In Public Health's Response to Covid, Fear Tactics Are a Misstep Many studies on the effectiveness of fear appeals have been conducted. 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). Solved Fear appeals are often used in public health | Chegg.com With strong evolutionary roots, fear serves important functions, including alerting people to present threats and motivating action to avoid future threats. The use of fear in public health campaigns has been controversial for decades. Nat Med. Article: Appealing to Fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories, by Melanie Tannenbaum, PhD, Kristina Wilson, PhD, and Dolores Abarracin, PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Justin Hepler, PhD, University of Nevada, Reno; Rick Zimmerman, PhD, University of Missouri, St. Louis; and Lindsey Saul, PhD, and Samantha Jacobs, MPH, Virginia Commonwealth University, Psychological Bulletin, published online Oct. 23, 2015. It presents a risk, presents the vulnerability to the risk, and then may, or may not suggest a form of protective action. a persuasive message that is designed to alter attitudes by producing fear in the recipient. 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,. Fear appeal is a psychological, sociological, and marketing term. 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. Jakovljevic M, Jakovljevic I, Bjedov S, Mustac F. Psychiatr Danub. These appeals are effective at changing attitudes, intentions and behaviors. There is a maximum effective value of fear. In addition to fear appeals that purposefully aim to scare audiences to motivate attitude and behavior change, recent work suggests that fear can be generated by other forms of messages (e.g., news accounts, social media posts, interpersonal conversations) that may influence receivers approaches to health issues. Further, at a more general level, fear-based messages that alert children to the importance of making self-protective decisions while they are still developing their schemas for health-related behaviors, such as regular teeth brushing or healthy eating, may result in the creation of sustainable habits that eventually result in improved health across the lifespan. 2023 Jan 21;21:101343. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101343. Given that persuasion research during this era was heavily influenced by motivational perspectives, it is not surprising that fear was conceptualized as an unpleasant, drive-like state, one that audiences were motivated to reduce. 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). Fifteen years later, Tannenbaum, Hepler, Zimmerman, Saul, Jacobs, Wilson et al. Yet fear-based messages may also be transmitted interpersonally, particularly in healthcare environments. 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. 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. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives. 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. Appealing to fear: A Meta-Analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories. Individuals base their first appraisal on assessment of However, fear appeals should not be seen as a panacea because the effect is still small. You will explore the application of fear appeals in health promotion messaging through the examination of a health promotion public service announcement or ad campaign. Describe the "fear appeal" and how it's used in public health messaging 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. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication, College of Communications, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara, Gender (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies), Fear As Mental State Versus Message Component, Theories of Fears Influence on Risk Perceptions, Attitudes, and Behavior, Fear Messages and Patient-Provider Communication, Conclusion: Fear Appeals and Message Effects, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.266, Fear responses to threat appeals: Functional form, methodological considerations, and correspondence between static and dynamic data, Protection motivation and self-efficacy: A revised theory of fear appeals and attitude change, Brave men and timid women? 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. This journal article, as well as other journal articles, can be found in scholarly databases available via most university libraries. It is to this literature we now turn. Witte and Allen (2000), in their meta-analysis, did not find a significant relationship between trait anxiety and post-message attitudes, intentions, or behaviors. MeSH Shir-Raz Y, Elisha E, Martin B, Ronel N, Guetzkow J. Minerva. This is because present-oriented goals are more important than future-oriented, protection-related goals when one perceives her timeline to be limited. Are You Sore, Stiff, and Unrested When You Wake Up? In order to fully support or reject tenets the original EPPM, additional research is needed. 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. 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. 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.