Primary issue: If fear is an instinct that is supposed to protect us from danger then why does it need to be hyped up so much? I'm interested in creating an understanding of the fears that are promoted to help sell products, boost the appeal of politicians and other officials that demand audiences, and as a result lead to more informed and less irrational fears. After today's discussions and by analyzing my own interests in research I've realized that I'm especially interested in fears created by illness, medicine, and "the pandemic".
Secondary issues:Fear can be a good thing, and can keep us safe, but I believe for the most part with promoting it is actually desensitizing us. But paranoia aside, I'm also interested in the affects the idea of fear can have on your actions, how it can prevent you from trying new things and making decisions and the solutions that may deal with this.
Design problems:I see products that are warning you of a fear all the time. But not necessarily the types of fears I'm interested in. For one, if I am observing physical objects that are dealing with fear I can imagine that they would be protecting something physical. I see nothing (besides various therapies) that communicate understanding. Rather than telling consumers to be afraid, I would like them to understand how they are being manipulated to be afraid. Design possibilities I see in this are tools for therapy (but not necessarily PTSD) or A new way of obtaining information about current events.
Stakeholders: Consumers, parents, politicians, reporters, PTSD victims, physiologists
Experts: Neuroscientists = Joseph Ledoux, Marc Siegel, Elizabeth Phelps, Rachelle Yelluda
Media = NPR On the Media, The Onion, CNN, F.A.I.R.
See the rest of the pictures from this weeks Fear Photo Journal 
4 comments:
Monica,
It's interesting to see the way you are working, because it is exactly the right way to be approaching this problem. You started with a broad topic, "fear", and you studied its biological, social and cultural causes and purposes. Now, you are reducing your focus still further, by settling on fear in the therapeutic setting, a logical choice, because it exposes real market opportunities. Now is a very good time introduce new therapeutic products, especially if they can be purchased through some form of national health insurance, which it looks like we will have soon.
I would like to explore your contention that fear mongering leads to "more informed and less irrational fears" Are you arguing that the overuse of fear psychology in advertising and medicine has physically changed our brains, so now instead of fearing god's vengeance, which is not real, we fear cancer, which is real? What about all of the demonstrably irrational fears that seem to be on the rise? Art Bell comes to mind.
If there are psychological changes that we are imposing on ourselves inadvertently, then we should also be able to influence our brains through self-stimulation of other kinds. Maybe some movement oriented therapy. I have seen evidence that some autistic children calm down when you require them to move their limbs in rhythmic, or syncopated rhythms.
This project will require that you learn a lot about brain science and behavioral therapies. Let me know how I can help going forward. It sounds like an extremely rich topic, and I have high hopes for this project.
steven
Steven,
I think I worded that sentence a little strangely. I am trying to design a solution that leads to more informed and less irrational fears. Its not that we should not fear illnesses, but I think sometimes we don't know HOW we should, what causes, and why we actually need something (to buy) to help us deal with it, prevent it, cure it.
News programing (like Art Bell) I think would be a good resource for me, I'm going to be courageous today and walk into WNYC and FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) today, because I don't have a direct contact and they don't return my emails.
As for the science knowledge of this, I'm trying to set up meetings with two of the really inspirational neuroscientists who study and write specifically about fear and memory: Joe Ledeux and Marc Siegel. They are both very busy though (with the swine flu epidemic...ha ha)I was thinking about walking into the Center for Neural Science at NYU and seeing if there was anyone there I could talk to. Let me know if you can think of anyone or anywhere I might be interested in going though.
Moncia,
Thanks for the clarification. Are you familiar with Radiolab? It's a show on WNYC that deals with very interesting topics, and I think that they may have done an episode on fear. I also think that Bob Garfield's book The Chaos Scenario would also be very thought-provoking for you, although I am not sure that he deals directly with this topic. By the way, I admire your courage in going places and demanding attention, but I am not sure it that's the best way to get information. Some people are just too busy to respond to emails, and you may have to look elsewhere.
steven
Radiolab is one of my favorite shows, they haven't done an episode on Fear but On the Media and others have done several.
As for going to the places, I did get contacts to email specific people from the receptionists, so we will see how that goes. I think its hard to respond to someone demanding your attention like that, so I'm not entirely surprised that I didn't get a conversation right away. Where else should I look?
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