Media propaganda and The Health Belief Model of Behavioral Change

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Charlotte, NC — “If we are to survive as free men, we must face up to the problem of politically inspired mental coercion, with all its ramifications.”

The propaganda is ramping up again, and it is achieving the desired effects on certain segments of the population. All around us, the fearful are once again donning their masks, as we are being told the unvaccinated pose the greatest danger to society. The mRNA vaccine is now being pushed from both sides of the aisle, and it is becoming clearer every day, that they will attempt to lock us down again.

Despite revelations from the CDC concerning the ineffectiveness of PCR tests in diagnosing COVID-19 (something we have known about since the spring of 2020), people are still falling for media driven fear campaigns. No matter how they try to twist this, PCR tests have been producing false positive rates all along.

Americans need to open their minds to the probability that the whacked-out conspiracy theorists are correct, and this is an agenda in pursuit of full spectrum control over our lives. People also need to understand that the media propaganda driving the COVID-19 narrative is done through the construct of something called The Health Belief Model.

Based on stimulus response theory, the Health Belief Model is a theoretical tool of behavioral change based on a person’s beliefs about their health. It was developed in the 1950s by social psychologists to determine why people fail to adopt recommended behaviors in the face of health-related threats. Taking the stimulus-response approach means it is believed people’s choices will be dictated by the circumstances surrounding them ̶ ̶ by the stimuli being fed to them. This is evident from the constructs that make up the model ̶ ̶ “perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers.

The word perceived refers to public perceptions of the health threat and how adopting the recommended behavioral changes will affect them. If they perceive the threat of contracting COVID-19 to be significantly high, they are likely to adopt the recommended behavioral changes. Like accepting an experimental vaccine, for example.

Another interesting aspect of the HBM is something they refer to as “cues to action.” This refers to the stimulus being used to motivate people to act. These cues to action can be anything from real bodily events or environmental circumstances to media blitzes and governmental policy. A study concerning people’s willingness to wear facemasks in the face of a respiratory virus was done through the lens of the Health Belief Model in 2014.

“We found that individuals are more likely to wear facemasks due to the perceived susceptibility and perceived severity of being afflicted with life-threatening diseases. Although perceived susceptibility appeared to be the most significant factor determining compliance, perceived benefits of mask-wearing was found to have significant effects on mask-wearing compliance as well. Perceived barriers include experience or perception of personal discomfort and sense of embarrassment. Media blitz and public health promotion activities supported by government agencies provide cues to increase the public’s usage of facemasks.”

Another study, published in the journal Vaccine, was also done through the Health Belief construct to determine people’s attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine. It was found that people’s trust in government recommendations was a strong factor in determining a willingness to get the shot, while those that hesitated cited a mistrust in the vaccine manufacturers.

This study also stated that these factors were key in developing strategies for promoting the vaccine. This means that media messages meant to influence public opinion will work to create positive perceptions of vaccine companies while portraying government as acting in the best interest of society.

Finally, the Health Belief Model was used in another study called ̶ ̶ Use of Health Belief Model — Based Deep Learning Classifiers for COVID-19 social media Content to Examine Public Perceptions of Physical Distancing: Model Development and Case Study. This study involved the infiltration of social media groups, in real time, to gauge public perceptions and opinions of social distancing. The purpose was to learn how to frame the message more effectively, to gain more compliance.

The push to vaccinate all of humanity in response to COVID-19 is being done through the perspective of people who believe in stimulus-response theory. Stimulus-response theory posits the idea that men are largely controlled by their environmental circumstances, and not their own free will.

The Health Belief Model is a theoretical method of shaping health related behaviors based on how people’s perceptions and beliefs can be shaped ̶ ̶ not only by real illness, but media messaging meant specifically to influence behavioral change. As the COVID-19 propaganda once again shifts into high gear, you can bet they will work to create the perception that the vaccine is the only way to save humanity from whatever super-duper variant pops up next.

You can find more about David on his website and you can find his most recent book on Amazon.