Use of ‘emotional language’ is key to building trust and motivating public health behaviour

Research carried out at University of Limerick has revealed that the use of emotional language by government leaders is key to building trust and influencing public health behaviour.

A new study has delved into the emotional messaging used by leaders in the context of public health behaviours during the pandemic.

The research, which included Irish and UK field studies, clearly revealed that deliberate attempts to improve emotions in citizens created trust in crisis situations and had an influence on complying with public health measures.

The study, which has just been published in the American Psychological Association’s Emotion journal, found that managing citizens’ emotions during public briefings was crucial to trust and public health behaviour during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

This research provides insights into how leaders can build trust through the emotional language used in communicating with the public.

Read more about how the use of language can influence public behaviour.