If you’ve delivered a sales pitch, asked for money at a fundraiser, launched a new project, or even asked someone on date, you’ve used persuasion. It’s no secret that we encounter hundreds, if not thousands, of persuasive messages each day. But we’d probably be surprised at how often we change our minds or actions because of risk or reward. As presenters, we need to understand how deep this thread of human motivation runs so that we know how to use fear-based persuasion both ethically and effectively.
In order to do that, we’ll be digging into Rogers’ Protection Motivation Theory. Often used in the medical field, this helpful framework has four components which can help us get a grasp on what our audience members are dealing with when we are asking them to take action, accept new ideas, or change their perspective.
Risk Appraisal
Any time we encounter a persuasive message, we immediately start to assess whether it is a risk to us. We measure it against our safe and familiar status quo. And Rogers says we do that by looking both at the severity of the persuasion and our vulnerability to it. Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) says that we will try to figure out exactly how risky or dangerous the message is. In other words, we’ll ask ourselves, how severe is this? Beyond that, we will try to determine whether this message is a risk to ourselves or to those around us. In other words, does this affect me or my family or my company?
Coping Appraisal
Once we’ve come to face to face with a persuasive message, or a threat, it’s time for us to figure out how we will cope with it. Rogers’ theory says this takes two forms, response efficacy and self-efficacy. Here’s what that means. First, we try to figure out whether we can avoid or minimize the persuasion or the threat by following the given recommendations. Second, we measure whether or not we can actually follow those recommendations. Studies have shown that this last step is “the strongest predictor of intention and behavior.” In other words, we aren’t likely to make a change if we don’t feel like we can actually follow through. This knowledge is particularly helpful for speakers. Here’s why.
So How Can We Use PMT in our Messages?
- Severity: As speakers, we first need to help our audience measure the severity of the choice or information we are presenting in an accurate light. So go ahead and do what the audience is probably already doing, measure your message against the status quo. Outline what is new and different.
- Vulnerability: We also need to help our audiences accurately identify who is vulnerable. Does this information affect them or their loved ones or their company? And if so, to what extent? Humans are notorious for only caring about things that fall within their circle. You’ve got to show how your message does so.
- Response Efficacy: If we introduce a problem or another perspective or choice, we need to provide all the steps for solving that problem, adopting a new viewpoint, or making another choice. We need to give our audience ways to actually confront the risk of change. We need to share recommendations for a way to move forward despite the risk.
- Self-Efficacy: Most importantly, we need to help the audience believe that they are capable of making the changes we’ve proposed. We need to provide a clear path and outline the steps that lead to success.
Knowledge of PMT helps us understand the way human motivation and threat assessment works. However, this doesn’t mean we should misrepresent the truth or manipulate our audience. It just means that we can communicate more effectively when we understand the theories behind fear-based persuasion and how they affect us as humans.
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