Our thoughts and feelings aren't the problem. 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). 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). 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. 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. These emotions may also have an effect on behavioral changes. While some work suggests age is not a moderator of fear-appeal effects (Witte & Allen, 2000), the role of developmental stages in the processing of and behavioral reactions to fear appeals has yet to be thoroughly or rigorously tested. Thus, it may be that fear appeals that emphasize efficacy over threat may be more successful for this demographic, though future research is needed to address this question directly. 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. Psychological Bulletin, 141, 11781204. 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. It's Time to Scare People About Covid - The New York Times Social Facilitation in Fear Appeals Creates Positive Affect but More elaborate strategies, such as training people on the skills they will need to succeed in changing behavior, will likely be more effective in most contexts. 2022 Nov 1:1-27. doi: 10.1007/s11024-022-09479-4. APA 2023 registration is now open! The COVID-19 Pandemic: Making Sense of Rumor and Fear. As this study suggests, more nuanced methodological approaches are needed to better understand how individuals experience fear appeals over the course of message exposure. To aid health professionals in redirecting away from the use of fear appeals, we offer a phased approach to creating health communication messages during the COVID-19 crisis. Fear appeals have three major components: the message, the audience, and the recommended behavior. 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. Broadly, the EPPM posits that message-relevant fear arises in response to threat appraisals. Politics latest updates: Union leader Pat Cullen says nurses are pushed 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 . Give an example or create your own public health message using the fear appeal. 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. These topics have generated great interest from scholars in multiple fields, ranging from communication and media studies to psychology, sociology, behavioral economics, and beyond. APA's membership includes more than 122,500 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. A campaign with gruesome photos of a person dying of lung cancer to combat smoking might make people think twice . eCollection 2023 Mar. People cope with potentially threatening information in different ways. Would you like email updates of new search results? It generally describes a strategy for motivating people to take a particular action. 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. 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. Fear can be such a powerful tool that campaigns have been developed focusing on fear appeals. Fear appeals are messages that try to persuade people about the potential harm that may happen to them if they do not accept the messages recommendations (Tannenbaum et al., 2015).

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