Colin's Digital Research Blog

AR/VR technologies effectively engage and evoke empathy in users that can be harnessed by nonprofit organizations to encourage positive social change.  By Irina Bokun in 2020 Irin wanted to talk about how augmented and virtual reality can assist in developing consumer empathy for nonprofit needs. Her study examines the effects of using AR/VR and how much empathy it can invoke in the user. She wants to argue that AR/VR technology is the most effective means of bridging non profit orgs and their understanding of consumer empathy. One issue that arises is how VR/AR technology is associated with expensive experiences limited to entertainment purposes, such as the Oculus or Pokemon Go. For her prototype, she creates an app that basically acts as a search engine for non-profit orgs where you can use your smart divide to enter the environment in VR, navigate in augmented reality, or use geolocation filters. She even tests her prototype on a local dog park for the "Piedmont Park Conservan...

 Project B Part A: I found this interesting student thesis relating to political science; focusing on social media's effects mainly on the Obama McCaine Election of 2008. Please note that this research is over a decade old and may be prone to being outdated.  The Effect of Social Media Networks On Political Marketing  -By Sarah Khan in 2011 -Sarah primarily focused her thesis on how the rise of social media brought new forms of outlets for politicians to market their campaigns. Social Networking sites are used by more than half the US every day and so utilizing that would be a great advantage in the electoral forum. She used numerous examples from John McCain and Barack Obama's 2008 presidential election and studied statistics regarding their political content on social networks regarding forums, discussions, and propaganda. In addition, she looks at ethnicity, spending costs, user interactions on platforms, and other aspects that may affect online political conversations...

 Project B Part A: I will attach two articles in this one post because they are conceptually similar, with one pertaining to augmented reality being utilized in a museum setting, while the other refers to using projection mapping in a similar matter.  The Museum of Tomorrow: Using 3D Gaming and Projection Mapping to Create the Next Generation of History Museum Exhibits -By Jeffrey L. De Boer in 2015 Summary: Jeffery believes that our current/newest generations process information in newer ways and Museums aren't utilizing the latest technologies to teach this specified group of people. In his words, he wanted to propose innovative entertainment-based approaches to history-museum-exhibits by utilizing video game software, hardware, and cutting-edge projection mapping techniques. He emphasizes in his research his interest in using projection design. He notes that museums do use this idea, but there is no interactivity with the viewers. He continues to list a process which h...

It was difficult searching for the origins or founders of Fear Appeal Theory. After vigorous research I found an article written in 1974 that briefly highlights the studies and experiments utilizing fear appeal data as far back as 1953. Before then, it seems that it was common knowledge that fear was a form of marketing persuasion however there were no studies to back that opinion.  Sternthal, B., & Craig, C. S. (1974). Fear Appeals: Revisited and Revised. Journal of Consumer Research , 1 (3), 22–34. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2488776

From my research, fear appeal is most effective when used in relation to health care, which is why there is such an abundance of its usage in the recent pandemic. I wanted to dedicate a section of the essay to how fear appeal is used in such cases, and list the benefits/consequences that are proposed by various studies. Below I have two lists, The Positives and Negatives that Fear Appeal has in a Medical Setting Positives of Fear Appeal in a Medical Setting -"Threatening health messages are popular in health education design. For example, the introduction of health warnings on cigarette packages in 2002 was accompanied by wide-scale media attention on television, radio and in newspapers throughout Europe. Soon after the introduction of these messages, national polls were presented that suggested that people smoked less because of the new health warnings.” (Ruiter, 2014) -”These appeals are effective at changing attitudes, intentions and behaviors. There are very few circumstances ...

For the second section of my essay, I will be talking about how Fear Appeal is used in Marketing. As such, I compiled all of my findings together from various sources to help isolate the best way of explaining, and to communicate to the readers as efficiently as possible.  Fear Appeal In Marketing 1- Fear appeals have been employed in advertising of products and services. It dominated areas such as life insurance, road accident campaigns, promoting political causes, drug-prevention commercials, and in the development of social awareness of serious concerns (Latour & Zahra, 1988), such as the COVID-19 and other public health-related issues. (Addo et al., 2020) -When Should I Use the Fear Appeal? 2- "particularly if there are consequences for not purchasing a product. For example, if you sell fire extinguishers and your advertising strategy is to show how you may save your family members’ lives if you have an extinguisher during a fire, you are appealing to a fear in consumers t...

Below I compiled all of my sources and made a list of quotes defining the purposes and uses for 'Fear Appeal'. My intentions are to list out all of my findings and compile them into my narrative for the first segment Fear Appeal Definitions: 1- “Fear Appeal persuades people to feel that they are assuming a risk if they do or do not purchase a certain product. The idea is that if consumers don’t use the product you are advertising, you make them feel like there may be undesirable consequences as a result.”(Newbold, 2017) 2- “They found fear appeals to be effective, especially when they contained recommendations for one-time only (versus repeated) behaviors and if the targeted audience included a larger percentage of women. They also confirmed prior findings that fear appeals are effective when they describe how to avoid the threat (e.g., get the vaccine, use a condom).” (Tannenbaul et al., 2015) 3- "According to fear appeal theories, a fear appeal is defined as a message th...

 "COVID-19: fear appeal favoring purchase behavior towards personal protective equipment" This article found a direct correlation between People's purchase behavior and public fear appeal during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Abstract : "With a serial mediated analysis, we established that fear appeal is associated with the sharp dynamics in the online purchase as related to the COVID-19. The results confirmed that fear appeal promotes social presence in anticipation of seeking affection, acceptance, and social information. This feeling is a precondition for developing e-loyalty, which promotes purchase behavior. Even though our variables might not be conclusive enough, we believe the findings are fundamental to understanding the swings in the purchase trend in this and any similar situations." PPE stockpiling and it's negative effects: "Countries like Singapore (INSEAD, 2020) and Australia (BBC, 2020), among others, have been hit with panic buying and stockpi...

"How Fear Appeal Approaches in COVID-19 Health Communication May Be Harming the Global Community" This journal is actually the first one I read that labels Fear Appeals as 'Scare Tactics' so perhaps there may be some biased perceptions in this study. Nevertheless, the data they provide is important and I will be noting some of it's points in my essay.   Notes: Abstract: "Fear appeals, also known as scare tactics, have been widely used to promote recommended preventive behaviors. We contend that unintended negative outcomes can result from fear appeals that intensify the already complex pandemic and efforts to contain it. We encourage public health professionals to reevaluate their desire to use fear appeals in COVID-19 health communication and recommend that evidence-based health communication be utilized to address the needs of a specific community, help people understand what they are being asked to do, explain step-by-step how to complete preventative beh...

"Sixty years of fear appeal research: Current state of the evidence" This journal study gives an in-depth study of fear appeal theory including how it works in marketing and health settings, theories that contradict, and how to assess it effectively.  Abstract:  "Following a brief overview of the use of fear arousal in health education practice and the structure of effective fear appeals according to two main theoretical frameworks—protection motivation theory and the extended parallel process model—the findings of six meta-analytic studies in the effectiveness of fear appeals are summarized." "Threatening health messages are popular in health education design. For example, the introduction of health warnings on cigarette packages in 2002 was accompanied by wide-scale media attention on television, radio and in newspapers throughout Europe. Soon after the introduction of these messages, national polls were presented that suggested that people smoked less becaus...

 "Appeal to fear in health care: appropriate or inappropriate?" This article is written by a chiropractic scholar and it appears that people rarely use fear appeal for false advertising however sees this occur more so in his line of work.  Findings: AIM: This paper examines appeal to fear in general: its perceived positive aspects, its negative characteristics, its appropriate as well as its fallacious use. "Appeal to fear is a commonly used marketing method that attempts to change behaviour by creating anxiety in those receiving a fearful message. It is regularly used in public health initiatives such as anti-smoking, anti-drunk driving campaigns as well as in hypertension awareness campaigns. " Using appeal to fear as a tool of persuasion can be valid or fallacious depending on the truth of the premises within the argument. Dear Appeal in Marketing: "Marketers use a variety of methods in an effort to persuade target audiences to modify behaviours in the inter...

"Using fear appeal theories to understand the effects of location information of patients on citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic" Here I found a great study on how fear appeal was studied in relation to the geolocation of an individual. I found a lot of good information I'll attach Findings: "Fear appeal theories include two predominant theoretical frameworks: protection motivation theory (PMT) and the extended parallel process model" Fear Appeal: "According to fear appeal theories, a fear appeal is defined as a message that presents threat information to cause fear, focusing on the severity and probability of occurrence of a threat to promote safer behavior " "Health messages about threats such as fear appeals are widely used in health communication (Ruiter et al., 2014), and varied threat information will cause different levels of negative emotions such as fear and anxiety" -"In periods of pandemics, such as SARS, citizens pay more a...

"Fear appeals to promote better health behaviors: an investigation of potential mediators" Analysis: This study wanted to highlight first how there are different agencies that do and don't use fear appeal due to the ongoing arguments that they may not be effective. After recruiting 230 subjects, they found that portraying a highly effective efficacy is crucial for good results when using fear appeal towards individuals.  Important Findings: "In fact, research into whether or not fear appeals are effective has failed to produce unequivocal findings, leading to an ongoing debate among scholars that dates back as least as far as Higbee (1969). " "-Products that are perceived to overcome a specific risk or dangers, fomenting fear, and more successful in reducing perceptions of danger, attract higher purchases (Mcdaniel & Zeithaml, 1984). We based on this to predict that, in the wake of the continuous spread of the deadly COVID-19;" -Conclusion: "O...

"FEAR APPEALS: THE EXTENDED PARALLEL PROCESS MODEL" The website explains how using fear appeal is effective when used correctly using the Extended Parallel Process Model "The Extended Parallel Process Model describes when a message with fear will be effective and when it will not. " "The Extended Parallel Process Model states that message acceptance leads to behavior change;" "The Extended Parallel Process Models states that personalistic language or imagery can be used to increase perceptions that someone is susceptible to a specific health threat." "Various message strategies could be used to increase a message reader’s perceived self-efficacy. For example, the message could provide examples of others who have successfully performed the behavior (e.g., “If they can do it, I can do it”), provide verbal encouragement (e.g., “You can do it!”; O’Keefe, 2016), or explicitly state that the recommended behavior is affordable, easy to implement, a...

"Fear-Based Appeals Effective at Changing Attitudes, Behaviors After All" This article summarizes a meta-analysis on Fear-Appeal effectiveness. This study looked at 127 research articles on this theory totalling over 27,000 people in 1,962 experiments. "They found fear appeals to be effective, especially when they contained recommendations for one-time only (versus repeated) behaviors and if the targeted audience included a larger percentage of women. They also confirmed prior findings that fear appeals are effective when they describe how to avoid the threat (e.g., get the vaccine, use a condom)." -"Fear-based appeals appear to be effective at influencing attitudes and behaviors, especially among women, according to a comprehensive review of over 50 years of research on the topic, published by the American Psychological Association." -“These appeals are effective at changing attitudes, intentions and behaviors. There are very few circumstances under which...

"THE FEAR APPEAL (ADVERTISING)" Analysis: This site has a list of uses for using fear appeal as a tactic for marketing products and services in order to persuade people to donate or follow a service.  Findings : -"Fear Appeal persuades people to feel that they are assuming a risk if they do or do not purchase a certain product. The idea is that if consumers don’t use the product you are advertising, you make them feel like there may be undesirable consequences as a result." When Should I Use the Fear Appeal? -"particularly if there are consequences for not purchasing a product. For example, if you sell fire extinguishers and your advertising strategy is to show how you may save your family members’ lives if you have an extinguisher during a fire, you are appealing to a fear in consumers that if they don’t buy a fire extinguisher, they are risking their family members’ lives." How to apply fear appeal in advertising -"use images and phrasing designed s...

 I found a study done in Beijing, China that could greatly support my research into Media Dependency. It surveyed over 200 college students and found a direct correlation between Covid-19 stress and an increase in social media addiction in individuals.  Below are excerpts I am especially interested in: "Due to policies to limit the spread of the virus, such as the “shelter-in-place” order (1), people, willing or not, are undergoing a transition from offline to online activities (2). In addition to remote work or remote learning, many people spent increased time on social media (SM), such as Facebook and Twitter, which could satisfy their need for disaster-related information, entertainment as well as interpersonal communication (3, 4)" "The present study examined the relationship between COVID-19 stress, active use, SM flow, and addictive SMU in a sample of Chinese college students. Consistent with Hypothesis 1a, COVID-19 related stress was associated with a greater tend...

I was researching past studies that supported my second bullet, in that social issues are the second benefactor in media dependency. This study by Matthew loveless found that an individual's media use is both heightened and follow the media closely in a time of political change. By surveying media use of  citizens from Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria; a media dependency can be seen by those seeking information on their transitioning into a democratic government. It shows that political change in these individuals' countries leads to a reliance on media for consolation.  Matthew Loveless. (2008, February). Media Dependency: Mass Media as Sources of Information in the Democratizing Countries of Central and Eastern Europe (No. 162–183). ResearchGate. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510340701770030

In my previous post, I found information into how Facebook was using Engagement Based-Ranking as a way to show individuals content that would cause an immediate reaction, even if it's toxic to the person's personality such as anorexia. The article stated that Facebook was protected by Section 230, which states that "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." In short, this means that social media platforms are immune to being sued for things that other people/businesses post onto it. What this legislation doesn't take into account however are algorithms, and Facebook is exploiting that loophole.  Perhaps this is one of the reasons why people are turning to social media for news and getting rid of newspapers, because Newspaper publishers are still held liable for the content it produces.  Pietsch, B., Asher Hamilton, I., & Canales, K. (...

I just remembered the recent Facebook Whistleblower who spoke to Congress under oath about Facebook's handling of its algorithm. There is plenty of material from this hearing that is relevant to my topic so below are three passages I will most likely fit into my analysis.       According to the Washington post: “engagement-based ranking,” a term that refers to the practice of social media platforms like Facebook using algorithms that prioritize content in users’ feeds that generate strong reactions, and more clicks, from users." "Haugen said engagement-based ranking is causing teens to be exposed to more anorexia content, fueling rifts within families and fueling ethnic violence in Ethiopia." "Eliminating engagement-based ranking would be difficult as it forms the bedrock of most social media platforms" Zakrzewski, C., Lima, C., Dwoskin, E., & Oremus, W. (2021, October 5). Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen tells lawmakers that meaningful reform is n...

According to Sprout Social, Brands and Media Platforms are doing all they can to have content creators that are highly liked by the public. The key reason is because an active audience is needed to keep users actively interested in wanting to return to the application, and the best way to keep an active audience is by incentivizing  users with money to create interesting content. This is where the term 'content creator' comes from, and they are crucial for opening the door to important discussions on social media. An example of this can viewed by Kerry Smith, a Content Strategist for Twitter's content creator network. She states that  "Creators are well positioned to lend a human voice, personality, perspective and expertise to a brand. They can facilitate conversations that otherwise would not have happened.” Kim, K. (2021, June 29). Social media is all-in on the content creator economy. What does that mean for brands? Sprout Social. Retrieved July 5, 2022, from http...

What I Found: Britannica Lists a summarized and easy to understand definition of how Media Dependency Works and how the spine of the framework functions. Its is basically a relationship in which the fulfillment of a party's needs is reliant on the resources that media provides. A sort of dependency relationship that an audience has with modes of media. Basic Definition: Media dependency theory , a systematic approach to the study of the effects of mass media on audiences and of the interactions between media, audiences, and social systems. It was introduced in outline by the American communications researchers Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur in 1976. "Two of the basic propositions put forward by Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur are: (1) the greater the number of social functions performed for an audience by a medium (e.g., informing the electorate, providing entertainment), the greater the audience’s dependency on that medium, and (2) the greater the instability of a society (e...

The Uses and gratification theory explains that people use media for various cognitive reasons and will continue until those needs are satisfied. The reasons for why someone may be absorbed into media depends on the person, but it could be due to acquiring intellectual knowledge, evoke emotions similar to a sad movie, or release self-esteem. In addition, there are more unhealthy reasons for why one would be strongly attracted to media; which is as a form of escapism from reality and stress or even as a way to feel like socializing with family and friends without actually interacting with them. The Uses and Gratification theory is more psychologically-oriented and doesn't take into account the power of media like the Media Dependency framework does.  Uses and Gratification Theory . (n.d.). Uses and gratification theory . Communication Theory. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://www.communicationtheory.org/uses-and-gratification-theory/

Excerpt: According to this theory, there is an internal link between media, audience and large social system. The audience learning from the real life is limited, so they can use media to get more information to fulfil their needs. An extensive use of media generates dependent relation in audience. Also Media can able to create dependence relationship with target audiences to achieve their goals by using its media power. The degree of dependence is directly proportional to : Individual : The media have ability to satisfy the audience needs. An individual will become more dependent on media, if the medium satisfy his/her needs. Otherwise the media dependence will become less Social Stability : The audience reconsider their beliefs, practice and behaviours when strong social change, conflicts, riot or election which will force to re-evaluate and make new decisions. During this period media dependency is dramatically increased, because there is a strong need for information, support and a...