“You’re gonna get a tetanus infection.”
“And, then, you’re gonna die.”
Howard Leventhal invited students to participate in what they thought was an evaluation of public health brochures. He divided them into two groups and then showed each group a tetanus brochure. The students read the brochure and then filled out an evaluation report.
Those in the “high fear” group received a brochure with horrifying images of what tetanus does to people.
People in the “low fear” group got less language and horror.
Leventhal wanted to see if more fear = more persuasion.
It didn’t.
His classic study showed that fear, by itself, paralyzes its victims. In fact, only one person in the entire group decided to get a tetanus vaccination.
Fear failed to persuade.
But, it wasn’t because his students didn’t understand the problem. Leventhal’s research showed that every student understood how serious tetanus was and how important it was to be vaccinated.
Some students planned on getting vaccinated.
But, only one student (a measly 3.3%) actually followed through.
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