Create Empathy In Your Content Through Fear And Anger

We know people are more likely to feel empathy for someone with whom they have a shared interest. Lucky for those of you who believe in the power of words, you have the wonderful ability to use them to make people feel certain emotions. And it turns out that certain emotion can then lead people to act in certain ways. Case in point: seeing the word "fear" in an article or a book title can make them empathize with the author, if they are experiencing a high anxiety or an emotional pain. The trick is to match the emotion with the words.

It has become apparent, that empathy is a vital part of human functioning. With the rise in mental health issues like depression and anxiety, research into ways to decrease empathy in humans is gaining more and more traction. Humans tend to empathize with people they like. Yet, a new study found that emotions, that express positivity also create more empathy. But emotions, that create negative emotions also cause people to empathize less. This article sheds light on how you can use emotions like fear and anger in your content to increase empathy.

Empathy Is A Necessary Condition

According to the most recent studies, empathy is a necessary condition for human flourishing. Without it, humans are more likely to engage in violent conflict and be open to exploitation and manipulation by others. In other words, they are more likely to become victims.

However, empathy also plays a role in the perpetuation of violence and other social pathologies. For instance, people who are unwilling to empathize with the experiences of others are more likely to support and engage in acts of oppression. Research shows, that people who hold a "superior" view of themselves tend to be more accepting of other's mistreatment.

Given this knowledge, the role of empathy can be complicated. The human mind is a complex instrument, and sometimes it's better to disable certain functions, than to risk an individual's flourishing. But to what extent are you able to manipulate in order to create empathy?

Content Creates Empathy

The most effective way to increase empathy is through content. Emotions are a powerful way to connect with people. The reason why people are so open to being persuaded when they are feeling fear is because they are expecting the worst. They are hoping against hope, that it will not be as bad as they imagine.

Yet, humans are also very good at rationalizing. They are able to separate the wheat from the chaff and create a veneer of reason to cover their biases and desires. So in addition to communicating through emotion, it is also important to leverage rational arguments.

The best way to do that is to use stories. People find stories more intuitive than facts and are therefore more likely to use them as a guide for how to act in the real world. Stories also have a way of obscuring the facts and thereby creating a more palatable version of reality for the individual using them.

In order to increase empathy through content, you will need to choose which emotion you wish to engender in your audiences. This is where the research comes in, but as mentioned before in this article the focus is on fear and anger.

The Role Of Emotion In Generating Empathy

There are certain emotions, that tend to be more "generative" (as in, they tend to increase empathy) than others. The most basic of these are fear and anger. These are the two emotions, that you want to focus on when you are trying to increase empathy in people.

However, it is important to note, that both fear and anger can have either a positive or negative influence on human behavior. You will need to consider the situation in which you are using either of those emotions.

As it turns out, fear tends to be more effective in increasing empathy when people are experiencing a sense of helplessness. Anger tends to work better, when people feel righteous indignation. In either case, the goal is to match the relevant emotion with the appropriate word choice and narrative.

So, when it comes to fear, the main strategy is to focus on creating a story in which people are the protagonists, rather than the victims. When it comes to anger, you want to focus on eliciting an experience of moral outrage, such as someone treating someone else as less-than-human. In sum, there are two general strategies, that you will need to pursue in order to maximize the effects of your content on people's minds.

The first strategy is to focus on the rational and emotional aspects of a situation. For instance, if you are communicating the idea that someone is being mistreated, you might emphasize the idea, that the person being mistreated has the potential to grow dissatisfied with their situation (i.e. "they might not be getting what they need"), or you might focus on the idea of "redress" (i.e. "denial the right to be respected").

The second strategy is to focus on the values, that the audience holds (i.e. "the right thing to do"). By communicating a clear idea of what is and is not a "good" or "acceptable" behavior, you are more likely to elicit certain responses. Of course, there are many other ways, that you might try to influence people, but the above are some of the most common.

Fear And Anger, That Prompt Empathy

The next step is to consider the situations in which each of these basic emotions is likely to come up.

• Fear

People will need to be afraid in order for your content to have an effect. However, fear can be very dangerous. An audience that is already predisposed to fear can easily turn to panic.

One of the best ways to increase the effectiveness of your fear-based messaging is to focus on the "other-regarding" properties of fear. In other words, you need to make people afraid for reasons, that extend beyond themselves.

You can do this by focusing on the possibility of the existence of a "higher power" whose interests are beyond those of the audience, and who might, at any time, decide to inflict pain and suffering for their own amusement.

If fear is your primary concern, then you will want to focus on the idea of "sin" and "guilt", as these are concepts that are particularly effective at instilling fear.

• Anger

Most people are familiar with the notion of "anger", but most people have a very limited conception of what it really is. The proper way to conceptualize anger is as a "raging fire", a force of nature that cannot be tamed and must be dealt with.

The best way to communicate the idea of anger is to focus on its destructive properties. When people are angry, they are not concerned with the long-term consequences of their actions. Therefore, they are also less likely to be concerned with the consequences, that they are likely to experience in the future.

Their only concern, in other words, is short-term satisfaction. The trick, then is to find a way to suggest, that you are not a part of the system that allows people's suffering and thus, are not likely to suffer in a similar manner. There are a variety of ways to do this, but none of them are particularly pleasant.

• You could say, that this is simply the way things are and that no one is innocent.

• You could suggest, that people need to take their anger elsewhere, because ultimately, the only one who can control their anger is themselves.

• You could even go so far as to suggest, that the only way to stop anger is to feel it properly.

There are many more, but you get the idea.

Putting It All Together

Now that you have identified the specific elements, that you will need to focus on in order to generate empathy through the use of fear or anger, you are ready to put it all together.

There are three main steps to making your fear- or anger-based communication more effective.

The first step is to identify the audience members, who are particularly predisposed to being receptive to your message. This will depend on both the type of person, that the listener is and the nature of the message itself. For instance, you will likely be more successful with certain types of messages, if you are speaking directly to those types of people.

The second step is to plan out the exact wording of your communication. You must be careful not to give any indication, that you are not to be trusted; the last thing you want to do is give the impression, that you are attempting to hide anything from those, who are listening to you.

The last step is to practice the delivery of the message as much as you can. Once these things are in place, you are ready to perform. Before you do, however, you should try to assess the situation with as much information as you can.

Thank you for reading.