Download H571 Week 3 - Fear - Kaitlyn Muller

FEAR
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)
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.
USE OF PERCEIVED THREAT
• Scare tactics:
• http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=3FtNm9CgA6U
• http://www.methproject.org/a
ds/tv/ben.html
• Affect perceived threat and
motivate people to change
their negative behavior.
• Cognitive process necessary to
decide not to engage in healthrisk behaviors.
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: 9780763797539