Fear Appeals in Anti-Knife Carrying Campaigns: Successful or Counter-Productive?
In the UK, knife crime continues to be a persistent and worrying concern. Media campaigns are often used by police and anti-knife crime organisations in an attempt to discourage young people from picking up a weapon. Many focus on the potentially devastating consequences associated with carrying a w...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
|
| In: |
Journal of interpersonal violence
Year: 2022, Volume: 37, Issue: 23/24, Pages: NP21573-NP21598 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | In the UK, knife crime continues to be a persistent and worrying concern. Media campaigns are often used by police and anti-knife crime organisations in an attempt to discourage young people from picking up a weapon. Many focus on the potentially devastating consequences associated with carrying a weapon, with the aim of provoking fear and thus a deterrent effect. In this paper, we present the findings from two experimental studies exploring the effects of exposure to fear-based knife crime media campaigns on young people?s intentions to engage in knife-carrying behaviour. Utilising a terror management theory perspective, in both studies we found that exposure to knife-related campaign imagery increased mortality salience, but there was no effect of campaign condition on willingness to carry a knife or on perceived benefits of knife-carrying. Although knife-related self-esteem/cultural worldviews predicted attitudes towards knife-carrying, such views did not moderate the effect of exposure to knife-related campaign imagery, and there was no effect of priming participants? to consider the value of behaving responsibly. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1552-6518 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/08862605211064237 |