Why Frightening Us Doesn’t Work

I have previously written about the problem of allowing ourselves to become frightened and/or anxious by watching the news on TV as it is often about negative events with no information about what can be done positively to help stop or reduce the frequency of the event or similar events. Seeing these events on the TV news often triggers within us a fear of being overwhelmed and instantly our brains react by numbing us and or avoiding the topic in the future or denying that it is true. These coping mechanisms require a lot of energy by our brain to maintain and remove us from dealing directly with the stress. This way of coping creates a chronic stress reaction as a way of coping with this kind of stress.

An editorial in the April 9, 2014 New York Times by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger talks about the problem of trying to get us to change our behaviors by using frightening information often presented in an upsetting way with no focus on positive ways to help reduce the threat. They were speaking about global warming. They referred to studies by the Frame Works Instutute that identified that connecting global warmng to extreme weather events led to people viewing climate change as an act of God or exaggerated and mostly not true or even denying that it was happening at all. Nordhaus and Shellenberger referred to a 2009 study in the journal Science Communication concluded that while shocking and catastrophy depicting of the impact of climate change get people’s attention, it does not lead to people feeling engaged in doing something, but instead often leads to denial and other avoidance type coping responses. Nordhaus and Shellenberger also reported on a 2010 study reported in Psychological Science showing that “dire messages” about global warming led to more skepticsim and denial about the problem.

It is clear then that frightening us doesn’t work and contributes to some of the polarization that exists now with some people insisting that gloabal warming is being exaggerated or may not be true at all. Studies and common sense show that if the focus is on solutions to the problem and ways that we can work together to make our planet healthier and our lives better, we are more likely to respond and do things to help. Nordhaus and Shellenberger also mentioned a recent study from Yale Law School’s Cultural Cognition Project showing that people with conservative political views are less likely to be skeptical abut global warming if they are first presented with articles about nuclear power and geoengineering as ways to reduce global warming. These type of solutions are often rejected by other climate change advocates who focus on solar and wind energy ways to reduce global warming.

I wonder if the way to help us [humans] to embrace changes that will reduce global warming is to emphasize positive steps that can be taken that include different types of solutions and includes as many ideas and engages as many of us as possible. Shocking us or polarizing us by attacking our ideas does not help. We are all in this together and it is critical that we are all included and all have a voice.