2010 - Public Relations Society of America

Shifting Gears and Changing Paradigms: Shifting Crisis Research To Focus on Controlling
Fear and Preventing Panic
Dean C. Kazoleas, Ph.D., APR
California State University Fullerton
dkazoleas@fullerton.edu
Abstract
This research paper forwards a call for a shift in the focus of current crisis research from
focusing on protecting and repairing organizational image to one that protects the
public/stakeholders by controlling fear, preventing panic, and communicating effective adaptive
responses. Research is presented which demonstrates that much of today’s crisis oriented
research focuses on case studies detailing organizational actions that are often designed to
restore organizational image and reputation, or forwards models and strategy to rebuild
organizational image and reputation in the aftermath of a crisis. In sum, past research heavily
focuses on protecting the reputation of the organization, but not necessarily on the safety of the
public or the stakeholder. In contrast, this paper forwards the suggestion that public relations
scholarship in the area of crisis communication and crisis management shift gears and focus on
controlling stakeholder fear and preventing panic in the face of persistent disasters such as
terrorist attacks using chemical/nuclear weapons, or large-scale epidemics. Second this paper
offers a theoretical approach built on empirical research in the areas of health and risk
communication namely Witte’s Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) to build better
response strategy and adaptive messages, which in turn can act to reduce fear and promote more
adaptive protective behaviors. Finally, this paper also suggests that public relations scholars
can significantly add to the conceptual understanding of fear, fear control, and danger control
processes, and that public relations research can assist to create and empirically test crisis
response strategies that are built on Witte’s Extended Parallel Process Model.
The purpose of this paper is two fold. First, the goal of this research is to forward a call
for public relations scholars to shift a portion of crisis related research from a focus on protecting
organizational image to a focus on identifying mechanisms to protect the public by controlling
fear and panic in the face of large scale persistent disasters such as a terrorist attack using
radiological/nuclear weapons or a large scale pandemic. Second, this paper also suggests the use
of theoretical framework developed in the health and risk communication arenas to help control
those fears and prevent panic, as well as to help create messages that better communicate
effective adaptive responses to such crises.
A Need for Research On Fear, Panic, and Risk Communication
At the conclusion of the recent 2010 United States Presidential Nuclear Summit President
Barack Obama delivered a stern and important warning to citizens of the United States. The
warning was produced out of a series of reports, which suggested that a terrorist or criminal
nuclear incident in the continental United States is almost inevitable. More troubling was the
statement which suggested that local, state, and regional authorities need to be prepared to handle
an initial response on their own because it would take approximately 72 hours for federal
resources to mobilize and to begin an effective response (Stern 2010, USA Today). Along with
these comments came a discussion of a suggested response, which involved calming public fears,
preventing panic and the urge to take flight, which in the end would expose potentially millions
to dangerous radiation. In the USA Today article Stern notes that President Obama stated “one
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