Hope vs fear

With seismic shifts changing our world, from the rise of populism to the climate emergency, increasing competition for our attention and the pervasiveness of social media, it feels as though there is always someone campaigning for us to act. In terms of political campaigns alone, we are currently on our fourth general election in ten years and in the same period have faced three referendums. 

Much of this campaigning has been driven from a place of fear. Vote Leave played on fears of mass immigration from Turkey during the Brexit campaign and during the 2017 election one of the Conservative party’s main messages was to vote for them or risk a “coalition of chaos”. Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign platform of hope and change feels a very long time ago, with even Greta Thunberg, the environmental activist, saying “I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic, and act as if the house was on fire.”

“I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic, and act as if the house was on fire.”

There is undoubtedly a lot to be fearful of as we look to the future, but am I the only one searching for a little hope? From both a personal and professional perspective I have been wondering whether hope or fear is the better motivator for action, and which we should deploy in our own campaigns. 

Last year researchers in the US looked at this question from the perspective of health campaigns. They found that while fear about health concerns may grip people, adding a little hope to a message might make people more willing to take preventative actions.

In two studies, hope and self-efficacy — the belief that a person can help themselves — significantly predicted intentions to take actions against skin cancer, such as wearing sunscreen or protective clothing. According to the researchers, while fear can grab attention and create awareness about a health problem, it might not necessarily lead to behaviours that could help people tackle the problem.

This question has also been looked at in relation to climate campaigning. In a 2017 Washington Post op-ed climate scientists Michael Mann, Susan Joy Hassol, and Tom Toles claimed “the most motivating emotions are worry, interest and hope. Importantly, fear does not motivate, and appealing to it is often counter-productive as it tends to distance people from the problem, leading them to disengage, doubt and even dismiss it.”

Even though in both scenarios the experts are majoring on hope, it’s important to note that it was only a motivator to act when presented in the context of an outcome to be feared. It seems we must first set up the jeopardy before presenting the way out – the classic need/solution/opportunity elements of a fundraising case for support. 

"when fear is so extreme that it leaves no room at all for hope, it is transformed into despair"

As a philosophy graduate, I appreciate René Descartes’ take on the hope/fear balance, set out in his 1649 work ‘The Passions of the Soul’, “When hope is so strong that it altogether drives out fear, its nature changes and it becomes complacency or confidence. And when we are certain that what we desire will come to pass, even though we go on wanting it to come to pass, we nonetheless cease to be agitated by the passion of desire which caused us to look forward to the outcome with anxiety. Likewise, when fear is so extreme that it leaves no room at all for hope, it is transformed into despair; and this despair, representing the thing as impossible, extinguishes desire altogether, for desire bears only on possible things.”

Or, put more simply by psychoanalyst Joyce McFadden, “Fear is the prompt. Hope is the way. Fear is about trying to survive something. Hope is about knowing why you want to.”

Of course, it also matters who delivers the message. Obama won hearts and minds with his message of hope because he represented genuine change as compared to his political rivals. As a leader he was likeable, credible and consistent – all key principles of influence, as set out by Robert Cialdini in his classic book ‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion’.

“Hope is the belief that destiny will not be written for us, but by us, the men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.”

So, whether you’re campaigning in the general election or developing your next social impact campaign, make sure you deploy hope and fear in balance and find the right message bearer. Ensure people understand the threat we face but give them hope and help them to see how they can be a part of the solution. As Barack Obama said, “Hope is the belief that destiny will not be written for us, but by us, the men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.”

There are many reasons to be hopeful, so let’s all find the courage to act.