Question: The Irish Government has requested a short report on the science of fear-based messaging on behaviour –

The Irish Government has requested a short report on the science of fear-based messaging on behaviour – in particular they have asked you to identify some studies that might help them understand the potential impact of including fear-based messages in public health campaigns that encourage in people to give up smoking. Your task is to create a report of five social psychological experiments that shed light on this topic. Your task is to provide a critical review of the 5 papers, and highlight the important lessons learned from these papers for the Government. The report should be structured as follows:

1. Assignment cover sheet.
2. Main body of report:
   1. Introduction and focus of the report.
   2. Critical summary of 5 experimental studies published since 2000, including their strenghts and weaknesses.
   3. Conclusion with advice to the Irish Government as to what the results of these studies might mean for policy and practice.

The report should not exceed 2000 words, excluding references.

Submit the assignment 4pm March 3^rd.

Note the three things we are looking for:

1. Can you find 5 experiments (student knows what an experiment is),
2. Can you critically review the 5 experiments (student demonstrates critical thinking),?

3) Can you distill-out some key themes for the Irish Government (student can synthesise findings and extrapolate to advice). 

Core Reading

The core textbook for the module is:

Sutton, Robbie & Douglas, Karen. (EDITIONS). Social Psychology. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan

The leading journal is Social Psychology is: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.