{"id":20217,"date":"2022-03-16T10:27:28","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T14:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/?p=20217"},"modified":"2024-01-16T10:06:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T14:06:46","slug":"fear-appeals-in-persuasion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/2022\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion\/","title":{"rendered":"How to develop fear appeals in persuasion"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Avoid losing readers with these 4 steps<\/h2>\n<p>Fear appeals persuade. But they can also paralyze.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_31765\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31765\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"31765\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/writing-tips\/persuasive-writing\/fear-appeals\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion.png\" data-orig-size=\"450,300\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"fear-appeals-in-persuasion\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Arousing fear can backfire if you don\u2019t offer a simple way to reduce risk. This four-part model overcomes that obstacle to move readers to act. &lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/es\/image-photo\/young-man-painted-skull-on-his-2094013162&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image by pixel-shot&lt;\/em&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion-300x200.png\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion.png\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion.png\" alt=\"Fear appeals in persuasion\" title=\"Fear appeals in persuasion\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31765 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion.png 450w, https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion-300x200.png 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 450px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 450\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"31765\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/writing-tips\/persuasive-writing\/fear-appeals\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion.png\" data-orig-size=\"450,300\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"fear-appeals-in-persuasion\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Arousing fear can backfire if you don\u2019t offer a simple way to reduce risk. This four-part model overcomes that obstacle to move readers to act. &lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/es\/image-photo\/young-man-painted-skull-on-his-2094013162&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image by pixel-shot&lt;\/em&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion-300x200.png\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion.png\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion.png\" alt=\"Fear appeals in persuasion\" title=\"Fear appeals in persuasion\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31765\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion.png 450w, https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/fear-appeals-in-persuasion-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31765\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arousing fear can backfire if you don\u2019t offer a simple way to reduce risk. This four-part model overcomes that obstacle to move readers to act. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/es\/image-photo\/young-man-painted-skull-on-his-2094013162\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Image by pixel-shot<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Strong fear appeals persuade &#8230; <\/strong>The stronger the fear appeal, the more likely it is to move your readers to act, according to 50 years of research and 100 studies reviewed by researchers Kim Witte and Mike Allen.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, a well-designed fear appeal should move about 4% of your target audience to act. So if you have 10,000 readers, 400 of them should change their behavior.<\/p>\n<p>Weak fear appeals, on the other hand, don\u2019t move audience members act.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2026 But they also paralyze. <\/strong>However, write Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini in <em>Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive,<\/em> when you arouse fear without clearly showing how readers can reduce the danger, they may deal with the fear by blocking out the message.<\/p>\n<p>To create a message that persuades your audience without paralyzing them, structure your fear appeal in four parts:<\/p>\n<h3>1. Introduce the threat.<\/h3>\n<p>The stronger the threat, the more effective the fear appeal. So:<\/p>\n<p><strong>A. Demonstrate the severity of the threat.<\/strong> Professional money managers, for instance, might reach out to trustees with a fear appeal like this:<\/p>\n<h5>\u201cIndividual trustees who are managing trusts on their own \u2014 even those who have appointed an investment advisor in a traditional trust arrangement \u2014 are <strong>personally responsible<\/strong> to the trust for the performance of those assets.\u201d<\/h5>\n<p><strong>B. Describe the threat using vivid word pictures.<\/strong> Illustrate the horrible consequences of the threat, as in this image from the World Wildlife Fund:<\/p>\n<h5>\u201cImagine (a group of dolphins) accidentally entangled in a fishing net, struggling for every single breath as they try to thrash their way to safety.\u201d<\/h5>\n<p><strong>C.Pile on references to the threat.<\/strong> Here\u2019s how the Natural Resources Defense Council does it:<\/p>\n<div class=\"excerptbox\" style=\"border:1px solid black;\">If you\u2019re like me, I\u2019m sure it pains you deeply to imagine \u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2026 <strong>The last gasp of a polar bear before it drowns in the vast waters of the Arctic<\/strong>, unable to reach the increasingly distant ice floes it needs to find food.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026 <strong>The muffled cries of newborn polar bear cubs as they are buried alive when their snowy den collapses<\/strong> from unseasonable rains.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026 <strong>The exhaustion of a mother polar bear and her young as they succumb to starvation<\/strong> after enduring longer and longer periods without food.<\/div>\n<p>The stronger the threat, the more effective it will be.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Demonstrate that the reader is at risk.<\/h3>\n<p>The more personal the threat, the more effective the fear appeal.<\/p>\n<p>Teenagers, for instance, are likely to be more afraid of bad breath than of cancer from smoking, says researcher Herbert J. Rotfeld. That\u2019s because teens don\u2019t feel personally threatened by mortality; they think it\u2019s something old people get.<\/p>\n<p>For parents who smoke, on the other hand, the strongest fear appeal might be that their children are likely to imitate their parents\u2019 behavior.<\/p>\n<p>So personalize the message. To make your fear appeals more relevant to your readers:<\/p>\n<p><strong>A.<\/strong> <strong>Focus on your audience\u2019s risk of the threat.<\/strong> Here\u2019s an example, from Northern Fund\u2019s marketing magazine:<\/p>\n<h5>Women are particularly likely to live in poverty in old age: Regardless of their current incomes, one-third to two-thirds of 25- to 55-year-old women could become destitute if they don\u2019t start to prepare for their financial futures now.<\/h5>\n<p><strong>B. Emphasize similarities between victims of the threat <\/strong>and the target audience:<\/p>\n<h5>Like you, these women had high-paying jobs in their 40s and 50s.<\/h5>\n<p><strong>C. Personalize the threat.<\/strong> Bring it home to the reader.<\/p>\n<h5>Bottom line: If you\u2019re a woman, you face a 33% chance of living in poverty after you retire.<\/h5>\n<h3>Avoid the breaking point.<\/h3>\n<p>At this point, readers make a decision. If they find the threat irrelevant or insignificant, they\u2019ll ignore your message.<\/p>\n<p>But if they feel susceptible to a serious threat, they\u2019ll start wondering what they can do about it.<\/p>\n<p>That makes this the perfect time to introduce the solution.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Demonstrate the effectiveness of the solution.<\/h3>\n<p>In one Australian study, researchers found that the audience\u2019s view of the solution outweighed the importance of the threat in the success of a fear appeal.<\/p>\n<p>Call it \u201cresponse efficacy\u201d \u2014 researchers\u2019 term for whether a person believes the solution will actually reduce the risk.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how it works:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I believe a biochemical terrorist attack is a real, severe risk. [Severity of threat.]<\/li>\n<li>I believe I am at risk. [Personalize the risk.]<\/li>\n<li>But I don\u2019t believe that putting duct tape around my windows is an effective solution. <em>So I opt out.<\/em> [Effectiveness of solution.]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So don\u2019t blow this off with a one-liner: Develop this section as well as you develop the threat. Outline how, why and when the solution will reduce the risk.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Show that readers can perform the solution. <\/h3>\n<p>If readers think the solution won\u2019t work or that they can\u2019t implement the solution, they\u2019ll feel it\u2019s futile to try to control the risk.<\/p>\n<p>Then they\u2019ll focus on controlling their fear instead of the threat. They may become defensive: \u201cThis is freaking me out. I\u2019m not going to think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For instance:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I believe that the cost of spending years in a nursing home can devastate a family\u2019s finances. [Severity of threat]<\/li>\n<li>I believe my own family\u2019s finances are at risk. [Personal risk]<\/li>\n<li>I believe that long-term-care insurance would be an effective solution. [Effectiveness of solution]<\/li>\n<li>I just don\u2019t see how I could afford long-term-care insurance premiums. [My ability to perform solution.]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So demonstrate that your action recommendations are cheap, painless and easy to implement. \u201cLose 40 pounds,\u201d for instance, isn\u2019t easy. \u201cSubstitute a liquid meal replacement for one meal a day\u201d is more achievable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><strong>How can you use this model to develop a four-part fear appeal that persuades, rather than paralyzing, readers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>____<\/p>\n<p>Sources: Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini; <em>Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive,<\/em> Free Press, 2009<\/p>\n<p>Kim Witte and Mike Allen, \u201cA Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeals: Implications for Effective Public Health Campaigns,\u201d <em>Health Education &amp; Behavior,<\/em> October 2000<\/p>\n<p>Herbert J. Rotfeld, \u201cThere are threats and (maybe) fear-caused arousal: theory and confusions of appeals to fear and fear arousal itself,\u201d <em>Journal of Advertising,<\/em> Sept. 22, 1997<\/p>\n<p>Richard Tay, Barry Watson and Olivia Radbourne, \u201cThe influence of fear arousal and perceived efficacy on the acceptance and rejection of road safety advertising message,\u201d Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference (Regain the Momentum), Melbourne, 2001<\/p>\n<div id='MMC-Persuasive' class='widgets_on_page wop_tiny1  wop_small1  wop_medium1  wop_large1  wop_wide1'>\n\t\t\t<ul><li id=\"custom_html-82\" class=\"widget_text widget widget_custom_html\"><div class=\"textwidget custom-html-widget\"><a title=\"Persuasive-writing workshop, a mini master class\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/corporate-communications-training\/mini-master-classes-home\/persuasive-writing-workshop\/\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/persuasive-writing-training-mmc.png\" alt=\"Persuasive-writing workshop, a mini master class\" title=\"Persuasive-writing workshop, a mini master class\" width=\"auto\" height=\"auto\" border=\"0\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 250px; 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