According to a new study, giving anti-piracy threats or messages can actually fuel people to engage in pirating more digital content in certain cases. However, men and women may have different responses to the messaging employed.

Men, Women Handle Anti-Piracy Warnings Differently

It was observed that men typically have more piracy behaviors after witnessing messages that warn about legal action and other negative impacts regarding piracy. On the other hand, women were observed to experience the intended effect of anti-piracy schemes.

According to the scientists behind the study, this reveals the importance of having different messaging for different sexes. It also shows how campaign tone could play a role.

Behavioral economist Kate Whitman from the University of Portsmouth explains that they already know of the various gender differences when it comes to piracy, as men have a higher tendency for pirating compared to women. Men may think that pirating is low-risk and more acceptable.

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Psychological Reactance: More Piracy With Anti-Piracy Warnings

Whitman adds that what they wanted to look into was whether piracy-tackling messages could differently affect men and women.

For clarity, the study described piracy as the downloading of digital content via methods and means that are not authorized. It is projected to cost the TV, movie, and music industries roughly tens of billions of dollars each year.

The "Psychological Reactance to Anti-Piracy Messages explained by Gender and Attitudes" study covered 926 adults and made use of three messaging types. Two campaigns were threatening, highlighting the security and legal repercussions that come with digital piracy. On the other hand, the other one had a more prosocial and educational tone.

Though the educational message did not see any observable effects on privacy levels, the more threatening and aggressive warnings triggered a notably different reaction for both men and women. The message that was most threatening resulted in an 18% rise in piracy intentions among men and a 52% decline among women.

Whitman explains that the study shows that anti-piracy warnings could inadvertently boost piracy. Such a phenomenon is known as psychological reactance, which is a motivational state marked by anxiety, resistance, distress, and the desire to have freedom destroyed. This comes under the reactance theory, which is a model that states a person may go through psychological reactance in response to a certain perceived threat.

From the standpoint of evolutionary psychology, the reaction of men towards threatened freedom is stronger. Hence, they may end up doing the opposite.

This study is not the first to argue that anti-piracy warnings could trigger more piracy. The experiment results also show that those who already had the highest favorability towards privacy had the biggest difference when it came to their intentions to increase the content they pirated after witnessing the warnings.

Overall, the findings show that men and women have a different way of processing threatening warnings. This shows the need to have a tailored approach when it comes to anti-piracy warnings. However, if such messages cannot be specifically targeted, it may be best to avoid them, as they could inadvertently lead to piracy surges.

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