The Effects of Hope and Fear Framing on ‘Social Activist’- Aligned Behavior

Abstract

Much of the previous research on social activism has focused on large scale collective action and the traits of individual actors. Yet, emotions including hope and fear are understood to serve as important motivating forces on our behavior. In this investigation, I expand upon our understanding of hope and fear motivation to ask how the emotional qualities of the language used to present a social issue might impact an individual's desire to support that cause. Exposing participants to either hope-inspiring language, fear-inducing language, or a neutral control, changes in perceived message strength as well as several behavioral measures (including hypothetical action, time allocation, and token donation tasks) are assessed as indicators of social activist behavior. Between treatment groups, no statistically significant differences were found to indicate that one particular emotional frame (or even the absence of emotional framing) was more effective in increasing perceived issue importance or solution-oriented behavior. Given that participants were able to detect the relevant emotional frame in a manipulation verification check, I hypothesize that this difference is the result of short-term exposure and stimuli format — not necessarily a failure of emotional presentation to influence persuasion or solution-oriented behavior as a whole.