• About
    • About
    • What is Public Interest Communications?
    • Our Team
    • Theories We Use
    • What We’ve Shared
    • Center Updates
    • Programs & Affiliates
      • frank gathering
      • The Research Prize in Public Interest Communications
      • Journal of Public Interest Communications
      • UF Programs
    • Contact Us
  • Our Services
    • Strategy Consulting
    • Issue Research
    • Training – Frameworks and Custom
  • Frameworks & Resources
  • Training
  • Case Studies
Center for Public Interest Communications
Support
  • About
    • About
    • What is Public Interest Communications?
    • Our Team
    • Theories We Use
    • What We’ve Shared
    • Center Updates
    • Programs & Affiliates
      • frank gathering
      • The Research Prize in Public Interest Communications
      • Journal of Public Interest Communications
      • UF Programs
    • Contact Us
  • Our Services
    • Strategy Consulting
    • Issue Research
    • Training – Frameworks and Custom
  • Frameworks & Resources
  • Training
  • Case Studies
  • Research & Insights

Increase Humanitarianism with Sadness

  • February 8, 2016
  • 2 minute read
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0
0

Many are searching for ways to boost support for those overseas who are suffering from the outbreaks of infectious diseases.

Communications scholar Janet Yang from the University of Buffalo found that evoking feelings of sadness can increase support for countries plagued by infectious diseases, like ebola. The findings were published in the December 2015 issue of Risk Analysis.

In the study, about a thousand participants were asked a series of questions to measure their existing knowledge of the crisis, how important they saw the issue, their personal worldviews and how much of a threat they believe Ebola was to the United States.

Then, participants read one of two altered newspaper articles about the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa. The articles were based on an article that appeared in the New York Times, but were modified to make the Ebola threat seem either close to home or far away.

After reading the articles, participants recorded their emotions, such as sadness, anger and fear, as well as whether they would be supportive of a friend or family member if he or she wanted to go to West Africa to help with the outbreak.

When participants reported sadness, they said they were more likely to support friends and family travelling to combat Ebola. Yang suggests this could be due to an increase in empathy toward the people suffering.

While fear did not impact participant support, those who reported feeling angry were less likely to support a friend or family member going to West Africa.

“Anger often results from unfair actions performed by others that lead individuals to feel reactant and antagonistic,” Yang notes. “Participants who felt angry might blame the lack of effective responses from international health organizations during the early days of the Ebola outbreak and attribute the responsibility to dealing with the crisis to them.”

Messages that highlight “vulnerable populations such as children, praise the heroic act of helping those in need, or emphasize the importance of solving a problem at its origin might be more effective than messages that depict the dire situations in West Africa, its lack of basic infrastructure, and the daunting death toll to date,” Yang said.

Risk Analysis

Researcher:
Janet Yang, University at Buffalo

0
0
0
Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • Charity
  • disease
  • Emotions
  • frankology
  • health
Previous Article
  • Research & Insights

Media Depictions of Muslims Divide Us

  • February 3, 2016
View Post
Next Article
  • Research & Insights

The Influential Power of the Ethical Shopper

  • February 10, 2016
View Post
Think we can help with your goals? Read about our services and how we work.
Or reach out today to tell us a bit about your project and inquire how we might help.

 
 

Join our network

We'll send insights and opportunities when you least expect

More of our work
  • Finding the Right Messenger for Your Message
  • Illustration by Ailadi.
    Designing Diverse and Gender Inclusive Humanitarian Organizations
  • Why Intersectional Stories Are Key to Helping the Communities We Serve
  • BROKE project screenshot
    Re-examining narratives on poverty and wealth — the BROKE project
Latest from the Center
  • Teresa Gonzales and Nicole Bronzan
    Paper exploring local discursive frames of poverty and race wins 2023 research prize
  • Center welcomes two collaborators in research and strategy
  • 2023 Research Prize Finalists
    Center announces three finalists for the $10,000 public interest communications research prize
  • Rakeem Robinson
    Center honors the memory of colleague Rakeem Robinson
How We Help – Case Studies
  • hands with medicine
    Invest in Trust – a vaccine communications guide for CNAs
  • gloved hand holding vial
    Science-based communication strategy on COVID for the UN Verified Initiative
  • illustration
    Innovation Service of UNHCR: the UN Refugee Agency

Subscribe

Keep up with our latest; request our periodic newsletter.

UF Logo

Center for Public Interest Communications
PO Box 118400
Gainesville, FL 32611-8400

An auxiliary unit of the College of Journalism and Communications

Copyright © 2022

Contact Us

We are eager to chat with you about your project or training need.

Send us a note

The Center for Public Interest Communications, the first of its kind in the nation, is designed to study, test and apply the science of strategic communication for social change. We are based at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

  • Social Change Communication
  • Science Communication
  • Strategic Communication
  • Broader Impacts
  • Public Interest Communication
  • Narrative Change
  • Leadership Development
  • Strategy Development
  • Effective Presentations
  • Research Translation & Insights

Input your search keywords and press Enter.