Fear appeals (threatening audience with dire consequences if a certain course or action is not followed) are commonly used in different domains of daily life. Fear appeals can be based on legitimate (for example, unsafe sex increases the chance on a STD) or illegitimate -dark, irrational- fears (for example as a result of racial prejudice, think of Adolf Hitler).
Scientific evidence tells us that –all other conditions being equal- the more frightened a person is, the higher the likelihood he or she will be persuaded to undertake a certain action. However, Leventhal and colleagues identified certain conditions that influence the effectiveness of fear appeals.
First, people with high self-esteem (people who have a reasonably good opinion of themselves) are more likely to be moved by fear, than people with low self-esteem. Nevertheless, people with low self-esteem tend to behave much like people with a high self-esteem after a certain delay. Thus, if no immediate action is required, the effect of self-esteem diminishes.
People with high self-esteem can be manipulated in such a way that they will act like people with low self-esteem. For example, by overwhelming people to make them feel like there is nothing they can do to change the threatening situation, people –even with high self-esteem- are likely to not respond to the threat, but instead bury their heads in the sand. Vice versa, if you increase people self-efficacy, it can increase people to be moved by fear in a positive way. Assume that you simulate a car accident, and you provide people with low self-esteem with clear, specific, and optimistic instructions about what to do, it may increase the self-efficacy of people: they may feel more enable to confront their fears and to cope with the danger.
Although high-fear appeals are more effective than low-fear appraisals in producing favorable attitudes towards a certain action, they do not per se increase the actual behavior of participants. Unless the high-fear appeal was accompanied by recommendations for specific behavior, it only increased the intentions or attitudes. In sum, a fear appeal is most effective when it 1) frightens the hell out of people 2) offers specific recommendations or instructions to overcome the threat 3) the recommended action is perceived as effective for reducing the threat and 4) the respondent believes he or she is able to perform the recommended action (self-efficacy).
Fear has a lot of power to motivate and direct people’s thoughts. Given this power, fear appeals also have great potential for abuse. The question to be asked is: “How legitimate is this fear?” If the fear is illegitimate –for example because it results from racial bias- it is adviced not to use fear appeals.
