Fear and Communication

Abstract

Abstracts of important findings on the relationship between fear and communication are presented and attention is drawn to the conflicting nature of the evidence. The conclusion reached is that where an attitude is the objective of a communication, a low to moderate fear presentation is preferred; where a behavior change is desired, a non-fear or low fear approach is preferred, and where prevention of a behavior is the objective, a moderate fear approach is preferred but only by a credible source. Conversely, where it is desired to provoke a behavior e.g., drug abuse, a high fear approach urging the opposite behavior is advisable, and when it is intended to block out all future communications (credible and incredible) on a topic (drug abuse) then again a high fear approach is the one of choice.