Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (abbreviated as FUD), are a collection of mental states that can influence people’s thinking in a variety of situations, and that are often used to manipulate people’s behavior. FUD is often used intentionally by various domains, such as business, media, and politics, so it’s important to understand this concept.
Examples of FUD
In marketing, FUD can involve telling potential customers any of the following: That the product suffers from technical problems
- That the competitor is misrepresenting the product
- The competitor is rumored to be struggling financially, so they might shut down and leave customers with no support
- A well-orchestrated FUD campaign captures mindshare, the percentage of the market that has been successfully persuaded that grave risks to one’s company and job await those who switch to the new technology, even if it is vastly superior
- It may also prevent new market entrants from gaining ground against the dominant firm, or even-as a judge once put it with compelling understatement-‘induce them to exit the market.'”
Summary and Conclusion
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), are a collection of mental states that can influence people’s thinking in a variety of situations and are often used together to manipulate people’s behavior
- To deal with FUD in yourself and in others, you should identify the relevant fears, uncertainties, and doubts, figure out where they’re coming from, and then move to resolve them directly
How FUD is created and used
Common techniques that are used to achieve this are making negative statements about the “opposition” (e.g. a competing company or an old product from the current company), pushing people to focus on possible negative outcomes, overwhelming people with information that is difficult for them to process, and attacking people’s preexisting knowledge.
- FUD techniques often involve various fallacious arguments, such as slippery slope arguments.
How to Reduce FUD in Others
Help them to first identify their relevant fears, uncertainties, and doubts, and then figure out where these feelings are coming from, and how they can be addressed.
- For example, if you’re selling a product, you could reduce people’s FUD toward it by doing things such as: Clearly explain how your product works
- Have a section with answers to common questions about your product
- Offer a demo or trial to people who want to try it. Present supporting testimonials from previous customers
- Present supporting endorsements from leaders in your field
- Clearly outline your pricing model and refund policy
How FUD spreads
Although FUD is often used intentionally as a manipulation technique, it can sometimes be created, promoted, and spread unintentionally
- This can often occur on a large scale via availability cascades
- A self-reinforcing process where a certain stance gains increasing prominence in public discourse, which increases its availability to people and which therefore makes them more likely to believe it
The origin and history of FUD
The term “FUD” is attributed to computer architect and entrepreneur Gene Amdahl
- He used it to describe the behavior of IBM
- FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering [Amdahl] products
- Although the acronym FUD and the modern sense of the term were popularized during the 1970s, mentions of “fear, uncertainty and doubt” appeared in various formulations and contexts before
Caveats about FUD
Even though FUD techniques are manipulative in nature, they can also be based on truthful information, that is presented in a reasonable manner
- Just because a certain piece of information was presented as part of a FUD campaign, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily false
- The term “FUD” is primarily used with negative connotations, to refer to fear, uncertainty, and doubt that are used for manipulation purposes or that lead to negative outcomes
How to Deal with FUD
Identify your relevant fears, uncertainties, and doubts, figure out where they’re coming from, and then move to resolve them directly.
- Best course of action is to first stop for a moment and just think through your FUD, by asking yourself what you’re feeling and what caused you to feel it. Once you’ve properly assessed the situation, you’ll be better positioned to figure out how exactly you can account for your Fud, and, where possible, how to reduce it, or get it under control.
