The most effective clinicians I know do not use shame and blame to get their messages across.

That does not mean that they are not firm, even stern. Firmness and sternness, however, are not in the neighborhood of shame and blame.

However, those who are passionate about a subject tend to think that just showing people how bad a behavior is for them and others will reduce it or stop it.  In this study, public service announcements (PSAs) were the channel used to show the often-devastating costs of binge drinking.

It did not work out as expected.

This research shows that the behavior may actually be reinforced by PSAs. PSAs are a favorite method for campaigns of this kind which involve public health problems, such as binge drinking, a big problem on college campuses. Common sense would suggest that these should work but we humans often are not wired to behave in ways that follow the rules of common sense.

This study from Northwestern University is slated for publication later this year in the Journal of Marketing Research.

The study found that many people who binge drink already feel guilty or ashamed about it which—as strange as this may seem—therefore are better able to resist the PSA messages which drive home why the behavior is bad by describing what the consequences of it are.

As the except below says, …”people who are already feeling guilt or shame resort to something called “defensive processing” when confronted with more of either, and tend to disassociate themselves with whatever they are being shown in order to lessen those emotions.” (Emphasis added)

Advertising Age

“Public-service ads intended to reduce binge drinking may actually lead to more of it, according to a study out of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management that’s set for publication in the Journal of Marketing Research later this year.” (Emphasis added)

…”It has long been assumed, of course, that guilt and shame were ideal ways of warning of the dangers associated with binge drinking and other harmful behaviors, because they are helpful in spotlighting the associated personal consequences. But this study found the opposite to be true: Viewers already feeling some level of guilt or shame instinctively resist messages that rely on those emotions, and in some cases are more likely to participate in the behavior they’re being warned about. (Emphasis added)

“The reason, said Kellogg marketing professor Nidhi Agrawal, is that people who are already feeling guilt or shame resort to something called “defensive processing” when confronted with more of either, and tend to disassociate themselves with whatever they are being shown in order to lessen those emotions. (Emphasis added)

“And it doesn’t have to be drinking that a viewer is feeling ashamed about in order to render the ads ineffective or damaging. “If you’re talking to a student about cheating on an exam, and one of these ads comes up, you can bet they are headed straight to the bar,” said Ms. Agrawal, who conducted the study along with her Indiana University colleague, Adam Duhacheck.”

Source: Advertising Age, March 3, 2010

Citation: Journal of Marketing Research, Publication pending.