ABSTRACT
This study conducted an experiment to examine the impact of informational conflicts about COVID-19 transmission routes on cognitive and behavioral factors. We were guided by the risk information seeking and processing model and focused on relationships among perceived ambiguity, information insufficiency, trustworthiness, and seeking/avoidance across several conditions. Data from 304 participants indicated a higher level of perceived ambiguity in the conflicting information condition compared to the one-sided information condition. The serial mediations suggest conflicting information enhanced perceived ambiguity, which was negatively related with trustworthiness of experts, information seeking, and adherence intentions. These findings shed light on how conflicting information negatively affects the decision-making process and provide insight about what to consider when presenting dynamic information to the public.
ABSTRACT
This study examines the emotional mechanisms of how public trust in the governments' actions to address the COVID-19 pandemic shapes individuals' risk information-seeking and avoidance. To make cross-cultural comparisons, we conducted a multi-country survey early in the pandemic in South Korea, the United States (US) and Singapore. The results suggest that trust was negatively related to fear, anger, sadness and anxiety, and positively related to hope. These emotions were significant mediators of the effect of trust on information seeking and avoidance, except for anger on avoidance. Importantly, the indirect effects of trust in government varied by country. Fear was a stronger mediator between trust and information seeking in South Korea than in the US. In contrast, sadness and anger played more prominent mediating roles in Singapore than in South Korea. This study offers theoretical insights into better understanding the roles of discrete emotions in forming information behaviors. The findings of this study also inform communication strategies that seek to navigate trust in managing pandemics that impact multiple nations.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Pandemics , Emotions , Government , Humans , Information Seeking Behavior , Pandemics/prevention & control , SARS-CoV-2 , Trust , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
We examined the implications of exposure to misinformation about COVID-19 in the United States, South Korea, and Singapore in the early stages of the global pandemic. The online survey results showed that misinformation exposure reduced information insufficiency, which subsequently led to greater information avoidance and heuristic processing, as well as less systematic processing of COVID-19 information. Indirect effects differ by country and were stronger in the U.S. sample than in the Singapore sample. This study highlights negative consequences of misinformation during a global pandemic and addresses possible cultural and situational differences in how people interpret and respond to misinformati.
ABSTRACT
We examined the implications of exposure to misinformation about COVID-19 in the United States, South Korea, and Singapore in the early stages of the global pandemic. The online survey results showed that misinformation exposure reduced information insufficiency, which subsequently led to greater information avoidance and heuristic processing, as well as less systematic processing of COVID-19 information. Indirect effects differ by country and were stronger in the U.S. sample than in the Singapore sample. This study highlights negative consequences of misinformation during a global pandemic and addresses possible cultural and situational differences in how people interpret and respond to misinformation.