Alarmism
Alarmism is excessive or exaggerated alarm of a real or imagined threat. Alarmism connotes attempts to excite fears or giving warnings of great danger in a manner that is amplified, overemphasized or unwarranted. In the news media, alarmism can often be found in the form of yellow journalism where reports sensationalise a story to exaggerate small risks.[1]
Alarmist personality
The alarmist person is subject to the cognitive distortion of catastrophizing – of always expecting the worst of possible futures.[2]
They may also be seeking to preserve feelings of omnipotence by generating anxiety, apprehension and concern in others.[3]
False accusation
The charge of alarmism can be used to discredit a legitimate warning, as when Churchill was widely dismissed as an alarmist in the 1930s.[4]
See also
- 2009 flu pandemic
- 2012 phenomenon
- Cassandra complex
- Culture of fear – fear and anxiety in public discourse
- False alarm
- Hypochondriasis – excessive fear of illness and physical harm
- Mass hysteria – public fear in large populations
- Moral panic – threat to societal values
- Scaremongering (also called fear mongering) – use of fear to influence opinions
- Sociology of disaster – a special branch of sociology
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf – fable about false alarmism
- The Sky Is Falling – fable about alarmism
- Safety culture
- Conspiracy theory
References
- "The Risk of Poor Coverage of Risk". Columbia Journalism Review.
- P. Gilbert, Overcoming Depression (1999) p. 88-90
- T. Pitt-Aikens, Loss of the Good Authority (1989) p. 99
- M. Makovsky, Churchill's Promised Land (2007) p. 140-1