Fear Appeals Fear Is a Term Paper

Williams (n.d), the fear appeal has three main components that make it an effective tool in changing behavior or habit; fear, threat and perceived efficacy. Fear is the negative emotion, threat being the external stimulus that brings out the perception among the listeners that they are exposed to some negative situation or outcome, perceived efficacy is the belief that the content of the message will be effective in the listener who will implement the message hence reduce the threat.

Fear appeal has been used in persuading people to change using some substances that are harmful to health like tobacco. This has been done by having universally agreed upon diagrams and pictures to convey the message. There are ugly diagrams for instance; with the body organs badly damaged used to discourage people from smoking and showing them the extent to which smoking can damage the organs of the body.

These diagrams and the talk or explanation that follows exploit the fears that the listeners have in order to not only express the facts about smoking and the need to quit the habit, but also to increase the likelihood that they will respond to the message.Fear appeal unfortunately has not only been used by the educational programs but also in various advertisements, sadly even of harmful substances. This has not however meant that it has failed to work in totality in changing people for the good.

References

Fred Culberston, (2011 ). Perhaps the most famous fear quote of all time. Retrieved December 8, 2012 from http://phobialist.com/fears.html

Kaylene C. Williams, (n.d). Fear Appeal Theory. Retrieved December 8, 2012 from http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/11907.pdf.....