Kaitlyn Muller H 571 October 16, 2014 FEAR

“ Fear is a chain reaction in the brain that starts when faced with a stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals that cause your heart to races, your breathing to escalate, and your muscles to energize.” (DSC, 2013) Fight-or-flight concept Fear expressed: Physiologically (arousal) Language Behavior (verbal self-reports) Overt Acts (Facial expressions) FEAR

RELATIVITY OF FEAR Variance in how “scary” situations are perceived. Examples of variance in situations: Crossing paths with a king cobra. Having a gun pointed at you. Standing in front of a classroom full of people and giving a presentation o. Statistics. Loud, unknown crash in the middle of the night. Physiological, or fight-or-flight, response helps us to survive dangerous situations.

FEAR AND HEALTH-RISK BEHAVIORS Use of instinctual fear to change health-risk behaviors. Vulnerable vs. invulnerable. Two conditions must be met: Perceived threat. Perceived vulnerability. Perceived threat: Inspiration for fear appeals.

Scare tactics: h?v=3FtNm9CgA6U h?v=3FtNm9CgA6U ds/tv/ben.html ds/tv/ben.html Affect perceived threat and motivate people to change their negative behavior. Cognitive process necessary to decide not to engage in health- risk behaviors. USE OF PERCEIVED THREAT

DISCUSSION Perceived threat is the main underlying construct for multiple theories: Health Belief Model (behavioral theory) Protection Motivation Theory (communication theory) Extended Parallel Process Model (communication theory) Scare tactics: did/do you find them effective? Do you think fear is an appropriate way to change risky health behaviors? Questions? DiClemente, R.J., Salazar, L.F., & Crosby, R.A. (2013). Health Behavior Theory for Public Health: Principles, Foundations and Applications. Jones and Bartlett, Boston, MA. ISBN: