The claim that some action should be taken to prevent undesirable consequences of not taking that action. It is often presented as a warning.

It takes the form:

1) X is a circumstance to fear.

2) Action Y should be taken to prevent circumstance X.

The appeal to fear can be valid or fallacious depending on whether the preventative action (action Y) really can be shown to prevent circumstance X.

• House fires can kill you and your family: fit smoke detectors to your house (valid).
  
  
• You must believe that God exists. After all, if you do not accept the existence of God, then you will face the horrors of hell (fallacious).

Appeals to fear work on our emotions and our general lack of ability to understand risk. They work by:

1. Identifying a threat (real or imagined);
2. Offering a prevention;
3. Convincing others that the prevention will be effective;
4. Convincing others that they are capable of facilitating the recommended prevention.

Appeals to fear are common in advertising, conspiracy theories, politics, propaganda, and promotion of alternative medicine. In fact it is a useful tool for anyone who wishes to influence the behaviour of others.

Scaremongering works by exploiting our natural fears and insecurities. Those who oppose vaccination, for example, often state: vaccines contain poisons, do you want to poison your children?

To counteract falling for an appeal to fear we need to:

1. Ascertain whether or not the perceived threat is actually real;
2. If it is, find out what the real level of risk faced is;
3. Decide whether or not the proposed preventative measures actually reduce the risk;
4. If any of the above are not true, then the appeal to fear is a fallacious one.

Example:

1. Vaccines harm children.
   
   True. There is always a risk that a child will have an adverse reaction to a vaccine.
   
   
2. What is the level of risk?
   
   The chance of a vaccine causing an adverse reaction is generally several million to one against.
   
   
3. The prevention: do not vaccinate your child.
   
   The chances of adverse reactions to disease are generally thousands of times greater than in vaccinated children.
   
   
4. The prevention measure actually increases the risk by a factor of several thousand.
   
   This appeal to fear is a fallacious one.

Even when based on a truth, the appeal to fear can be fallacious. Once emotion takes over, we may focus only on that which we fear and lose all sense of perspective.

This makes the appeal to fear a powerful weapon for those who wish to influence others.

"The streets of our country are in turmoil. The universities are filled with students rebelling and rioting. Communists are seeking to destroy our country. Russia is threatening us with her might, and the Republic is in danger. Yes - danger from within and without. We need law and order! Without it our nation cannot survive."
Adolf Hitler, 1932

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