Protection Motivation Theory

Protection Motivation Theory

 

This is a second in a series of articles looking at the impact of health related theories on Social Marketing. Today the focus will be on the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) which is an adaption of the Health Belief Model developed by [tooltip content=”Rogers, R.W. (1975) A protection motivation theory of fear appeals and attitude change. J Psychol. 1975; 91: 93–114.” url=”” ]Rogers (1975)[/tooltip].


Protection Motivation Theory was originally developed to test how fear influenced individuals to change their health behaviours.  [tooltip content=”Rogers, R.W. (1983). Cognitive and physiological processes in fear appeals and attitude change: A revised theory of protection motivation. In J. Cacioppo & R. Petty (Eds.), Social Psychophysiology. New York: Guilford Press.” url=”” ]Rogers (1983)[/tooltip] then adapted it to be a more persuasive means of changing behaviours. It is made up of a number of constructs (see figure 1). They relate to the threat appraisal and the coping appraisal:

  • Threat:
    • The severity of the illness.
    • My vulnerability of contracting the illness (or it getting worse).
  • Coping:
    • Self-efficacy or the confidence in being able to change the related health behaviour.
    • Response effectiveness is knowing what to change.
  • Protection Motivation: the appraisal of the threat and coping mechanism will lead an individual to a behavioural Intention.
  • Protective behaviour: this is the desired behavioural model designed by the healthcare professional.

 

Protection Motivation Theory

Figure 1: The Protection Motivation Theory.

It has been widely used in changing health related behaviours, but has also been used to persuade consumers using less energy ([tooltip content=”Hass, J. W., Bagley, G. S. and Rogers, R. W.(1975) Coping with the energy crisis: Effects of fear appeals upon attitudes toward energy consumption. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 60(6), Dec 1975, 754-756.” url=”” ]Hass et al, 1975[/tooltip]) and water ([tooltip content=”Kantola, S. J. , Syme, G. J. and Nesdale, A. R. (1983) The Effects of Appraised Severity and Efficacy in Promoting Water Conservation: An Informational Analysis, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Volume 13 Issue 2 (April 1983), Pages 99-190.” url=”” ]Kantona et al 1983[/tooltip]).  Protection motivation theory is an educational and motivational process. Social marketers who are looking to use protection motivation theory will need to develop the appropriate products: depending on the complexity of the campaign such products could be simple pamphlets or educational courses running in the community.

The use of fear is common in certain social marketing campaigns (stop smoking being the classic example), however the Advertising Standards Authority does state that:

“Ads must not cause fear or distress without justifiable reason e.g. charity or public sector ads; if it can be justified, the fear or distress should not be excessive. Advertisers must not use a shocking claim or image merely to attract attention”. [tooltip content=”ASA (2012) Ad:Check Understanding advertising regulation, Lonodn, Advertising Standards Authority.” url=”” ]ASA, 2012, Page 3[/tooltip]

There are limitations to this theory: it does not consider all of the environmental and cognitive variables such as the impact of social norms.  With that in mind the health belief model may be a better option.

References:

ASA (2012) Ad:Check Understanding advertising regulation, London, Advertising Standards Authority.

Hass, J. W., Bagley, G. S. and  Rogers, R. W.(1975) Coping with the energy crisis: Effects of fear appeals upon attitudes toward energy consumption. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 60(6), Dec 1975, 754-756.

Kantola, S. J. , Syme, G. J. and  Nesdale, A. R. (1983) The Effects of Appraised Severity and Efficacy in Promoting Water Conservation: An Informational Analysis, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Volume 13 Issue 2 (April 1983), Pages 99-190.

Rogers, R.W. (1975) A protection motivation theory of fear appeals and attitude change. J Psychol. 1975; 91: 93–114.

Rogers, R.W. (1983). Cognitive and physiological processes in fear appeals and attitude change: A revised theory of protection motivation. In J. Cacioppo & R. Petty (Eds.), Social Psychophysiology. New York: Guilford Press.

Related Articles:

  1. The Health Belief Model and Social Marketing.
  2. What is Social Marketing?
  3. The Social Marketing Dilemma.
  4. Social Marketing Campaigns within the NHS.

 
 
Credits:

The lead picture is an adaption of the work by nokhoog_buchachon:
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

 
 

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Dr Alan Shaw is a Senior Lecturer and Marketing consultant focusing on a range of sectors. His main interests are in strategy development, social marketing, digital marketing, advertising, consumer behaviour and marketing application.
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