Does fear persuade or paralyse?
I read an interesting piece the other day about fear messaging. Apparently Howard Leventhal has been studying fear messaging in the context of public health since the sixties. In one study he got students to read a public health pamphlet explaining the dangers of tetanus infection. The pamphlet was either filled or not filled with frightening images of the consequences of contracting tetanus. In addition, the students either did or did not receive a specific plan for arranging a tetanus injection. The results showed that the high-fear message motivated recipients to get a tetanus injection only if it included a plan of specific actions they could take to get an injection.
The research goes on to show that the action plans must provide a clear, specific and effective means of reducing the danger. This is relevent for climate change communications as the solutions for climate change are rarely able to meet these three criteria in a way that is simple to understand.
