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Believing in Expertise: How Authors' Credentials and Language Use Influence the Credibility of Online Health Information
Abstract
Today, many people use the Internet to seek health advice. This study examines how an author's expertise is established and how this affects the credibility of his or her online health information. In a 2 (authors' credentials: medical vs. nonmedical) × 2 (authors' language use: technical vs. every day) within-subjects design, 127 study participants, or "seekers," judged authors' expertise, benevolence, and integrity as well as the credibility of their medical statements. In addition, we assessed seekers' awareness of their own knowledge and behavior. Results revealed that users consciously rewarded authors' credentials and subconsciously punished technical language. Seekers were keenly aware of authors' credentials and perceived authors with medical credentials to have a higher level of expertise and their information to be more credible. Technical language use negatively affected authors' integrity and the credibility of their health information, despite seekers being unaware of it. Practical implications for health communication and implications for future research are outlined.
... Including citations to relevant publications or referencing expert sources might foster positive attitudes towards science , promote trust in science Thiebach et al., 2015;Thomm & Bromme, 2012;Thon & Jucks, 2017), and increase willingness to act (Palm et al., 2020). However, citations can make a text more difficult to parse and so might impair perceived understanding . ...
... Unreliable scientific sources are still perceived as more reliable than unreliable nonscientific sources . Similar source effects were also demonstrated in Thon and Jucks (2017), where medical authors' statements were generally seen as more credible than nonmedical authors' statements. Yet these findings were not corroborated by König and Jucks (2020) who showed that affiliation (scientist vs lobbyist) did not influence credibility. ...
... Regarding source effects, scientists or domain experts may be seen as more competent than politicians (Janssen et al., 2021), although one other study did not find differences between conservative, liberal, and scientific sources regarding trust in the source (Butterfuss et al., 2020). Scientists may also be seen as more credible, knowledgeable, and trustworthy than laypersons (Chinn & Weeks, 2021;Thon & Jucks, 2017). However, scientists may not generally been seen more favorably than other people; König and Jucks (2020) found that scientists and lobbyists were ascribed similar qualities regarding expertise, integrity, benevolence, liability, or Machiavellianism (see also König and Jucks, 2019, for similar results). ...
Communicating research findings to the public in a clear but engaging manner is challenging, yet central for maximizing their societal impact. This systematic review aimed to derive evidence-based strategies for science communication from experimental studies. Three databases were searched in December 2022. Experimental studies published in English or German were included if they tested the effect of providing written information about science to adults aged 16+ years by assessing the impact on at least one of four domains of science communication aims (understanding and knowledge, attitudes and trust, intention and behavior, engagement). A total of 171 studies were included. Derived strategies include avoiding jargon, carefully structuring texts, including citations and expert sources, being mindful about how and when to indicate conflict or uncertainty in science, using neutral language, and highlighting Open Science principles and replicability. They can be used to communicate science effectively to lay audiences, benefitting society.
... These strategies and techniques may involve various ways of wording, including an everyday style (eg, "heart attack") versus a technical style (eg, "myocardial infarction"), a tentative style (eg, "presumably similar") versus a nontentative style (eg, "similar"), a neutral style (eg, "methodological mistakes") versus an aggressive style (eg, "really dumb methodological mistakes"), an emotional style versus a nonemotional style, and an enthusiastic style versus a nonenthusiastic style. [36,[41][42][43][44]. They may also include the use of personal references (eg, first-person and second-person pronouns), personal testimonials, specific conversational frameworks or prompts, and other verbal means of communication [45][46][47]. ...
... • Use an everyday style (eg, heart attack) rather than a technical style (eg, myocardial infarction) [41]. ...
... • The CA used a technical style (eg, "myocardial infarction") [41]. ...
Background
Given the growing significance of conversational agents (CAs), researchers have conducted a plethora of relevant studies on various technology- and usability-oriented issues. However, few investigations focus on language use in CA-based health communication to examine its influence on the user perception of CAs and their role in delivering health care services.
Objective
This review aims to present the language use of CAs in health care to identify the achievements made and breakthroughs to be realized to inform researchers and more specifically CA designers.
Methods
This review was conducted by following the protocols of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 statement. We first designed the search strategy according to the research aim and then performed the keyword searches in PubMed and ProQuest databases for retrieving relevant publications (n=179). Subsequently, 3 researchers screened and reviewed the publications independently to select studies meeting the predefined selection criteria. Finally, we synthesized and analyzed the eligible articles (N=11) through thematic synthesis.
Results
Among the 11 included publications, 6 deal exclusively with the language use of the CAs studied, and the remaining 5 are only partly related to this topic. The language use of the CAs in these studies can be roughly classified into six themes: (1) personal pronouns, (2) responses to health and lifestyle prompts, (3) strategic wording and rich linguistic resources, (4) a 3-staged conversation framework, (5) human-like well-manipulated conversations, and (6) symbols and images coupled with phrases. These derived themes effectively engaged users in health communication. Meanwhile, we identified substantial room for improvement based on the inconsistent responses of some CAs and their inability to present large volumes of information on safety-critical health and lifestyle prompts.
Conclusions
This is the first systematic review of language use in CA-based health communication. The results and limitations identified in the 11 included papers can give fresh insights into the design and development, popularization, and research of CA applications. This review can provide practical implications for incorporating positive language use into the design of health CAs and improving their effective language output in health communication. In this way, upgraded CAs will be more capable of handling various health problems particularly in the context of nationwide and even worldwide public health crises.
... The easiness effect has been shown to be robust against variations of scientific discipline/topic and contextual factors (Scharrer et al., 2013(Scharrer et al., , 2014(Scharrer et al., , 2019Thon and Jucks, 2017;Bullock et al., 2019). The effect can be reduced if non-experts are made aware of the controversial nature of the claim in question (Scharrer et al., 2013) or if non-experts are warned that the topic at hand is actually very complex (Scharrer et al., 2014). ...
... Many of these past studies on the influence of information easiness intentionally used claims of a fictitious nature to keep participants' prior knowledge and beliefs as low as possible (Scharrer et al., 2012(Scharrer et al., , 2013(Scharrer et al., , 2014(Scharrer et al., , 2019. Other studies used authentic claims, but did not control for participants' prior beliefs (Scharrer et al., 2017;Thon and Jucks, 2017;Bullock et al., 2019). ...
... These findings are in line with previous research on the impact of text easiness, suggesting that non-experts attach weight to their own perceived understanding of the subject matter when judging a scientific claim in spite of their lack of knowledge (e.g., Scharrer et al., 2012Scharrer et al., , 2017Thon and Jucks, 2017;Bullock et al., 2019). However, the present results also suggest that, at least for undergraduates who believe in anthropogenic climate-change, text easiness loses its influence when information is inconsistent with their prior beliefs. ...
Usually, non-experts do not possess sufficient deep-level knowledge to make fully informed evaluations of scientific claims. Instead, they depend on pertinent experts for support. However, previous research has shown that the easiness by which textual information on a scientific issue can be understood seduces non-experts into overlooking their evaluative limitations. The present study examined whether text easiness affects non-experts’ evaluation of scientific claims even if they possess prior beliefs about the accuracy of these claims. Undergraduates who strongly believed that climate change is anthropogenic read argumentative texts that were either easy or difficult to understand and that supported a claim either consistent or inconsistent with their beliefs. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that text easiness affects non-experts’ judgment of scientific claims about which they hold prior beliefs—but only when these claims are in accordance with their beliefs. It seems that both text difficulty and belief inconsistency remind non-experts of their own limitations.
... In general, the public trusts health information provided by experts (Thon & Jucks, 2017). According to the Pew Research Center (2019b), over 51% of Americans indicated that they had a fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the best interests of the public. ...
... Over 68% of the public have a positive view of doctors and medical researchers (Pew Research Center, 2019a). Thon and Jucks (2017) found a high level of trust in health expertise in both online and offline environments. Yet, there are concerns about the public's reception of health-related news from social media. ...
... Expertise is an important component of building credibility in communication (Austin & Dong, 1994;Eastin, 2006;Garrett et al., 2013;Lewandowsky et al., 2012;Nyhan et al., 2014). Scholars point out that an expert's knowledge is usually deeper and also structured differently than a layperson's (Bromme & Jucks, 2001;Keil, 2010;Thon & Jucks, 2017). However, expert correction, faces some challenges. ...
This study shows how research on misinformation correction on social media must be contextualized by an understanding of race, class, and local culture. Using an inductive analysis of focus group data, we find that correction of misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic on the US/Mexico border is multilayered between the family and community institutions. It is also structured by information poverty, local Latinx border practices, and cultural constructs such as chisme and a culture of skepticism. Trust in expert correction is mediated by medical paternalism and distrust of city leadership. Local leaders in the Latinx border community are wary of communicating with the general public and hesitant to correct misinformation in online mediums. Nevertheless, correction of misinformation does occur in the intimate networks of family and friends in online group chats, discussions around the television, and interpersonal communication.
... It is no surprise that pediatricians in OMCs prefer to convey their expertise, assuming that enquirers tend to trust authoritative advice-givers with specialised knowledge (Bromme & Thomm, 2016). Pediatricians' epistemic primacy is cued in their credentials and language (Thon & Jucks, 2017). A close examination of our data finds that Chinese pediatricians mainly rely on such pragmalinguistic devices as medical jargon, bare assertions and imperatives, and boosters to strengthen their epistemic expertise. ...
... First, the Chinese pediatricians rely on code glosses to rephrase, explain or elaborate some hard-to-understand jargon and technical terms. It is a valuable strategy for the pediatricians, as medical jargon and technical terms constitute key barriers preventing patients from understanding doctors' biomedical knowledge (Thon & Jucks, 2017). The use of code glosses also reflects pediatricians' predictions about the parents' knowledge-base. ...
Despite an increasing scholarly interest in doctors’ behaviour in online settings, doctors’ epistemic behaviour (i.e. how doctor employs discursive practices to deal with their side and patients’ side knowledge) in online medical consultation (OMC) is still underexplored in research. Drawing on 300 highly rated OMC cases retrieved from dxy.com, a well-known digital health consulting platform in China, this study explores how Chinese pediatricians discursively deploy different types of epistemic behaviour in OMC settings. Data analyses yield three typical types of epistemic behaviour by Chinese pediatricians: strengthening epistemic primacy, mitigating epistemic certainty and showing concerns about parents’ epistemic domain. It is argued that pediatricians conduct epistemic behaviour to win parents’ perceptions of their trustworthiness. The three types of epistemic behaviour are targeted at the three dimensions of trustworthiness – ability, integrity, and benevolence. This study could yield insightful suggestions for online doctors’ strategic choice of discursive practices to promote a trusting doctor–patient relationship and harmonious consulting atmosphere in e-health activities.
... Studies on the easiness effect of science popularization have shown that encountering scientific information that is easy to comprehend on a surface level induces laypeople to overlook their own limitations and their resulting dependence on experts. After reading scientific texts that are easy to understand, laypeople agree more strongly and confidently with the knowledge claims they contain and are less inclined to consult an expert than after reading texts that are more difficult to understand (e.g., Bullock et al., 2019;Kerwer et al., 2021;Scharrer et al., 2013Scharrer et al., , 2012Scharrer et al., , 2014Scharrer et al., , 2019Thon & Jucks, 2017). It seems that the experienced ease of comprehension makes laypeople believe that evaluating the obtained information is equally simple and falls within the scope of their own capabilities (Scharrer et al., 2017). ...
... In addition, after reading easy compared to difficult information, laypeople trusted more in their own judgment based on current knowledge, indicating increased confidence in their own evaluative capabilities. These findings are in line with previous research demonstrating the persuasive advantage of easily comprehensible scientific information (e.g., Bullock et al., 2019;Kerwer et al., 2021;Scharrer et al., 2012Scharrer et al., , 2019Thon & Jucks, 2017). The reading times data show that the discounting of difficult texts appears not to have been an instant response by laypeople upon encountering their first comprehension problems. ...
Research has shown that laypeople tend to rely on their own evaluations when encountering scientific text information that is easy to comprehend. This easiness effect of science popularization leaves them vulnerable to uncritically accepting misinformation presented in a simplified manner. The present study investigated whether warnings of misinformation frequently used in social networks and other online services mitigate or even prevent the persuasive advantage of information easiness. Forty-one medical laypeople read brief argumentative online texts proposing fictitious health claims. Texts were either easy or difficult to comprehend, and they either were or were not labeled with a warning that independent fact-checkers dispute the information. Results showed that warnings effectively increased laypeople’s skepticism toward scientific misinformation. However, findings also suggested that warnings do not reduce the persuasive advantage of misinformation presented in an easily understandable manner, pointing to the limits of this communicative tool.
... For health communication researchers who aim to facilitate informed health decisions, equally important questions arise about how the medical content produced by the crowd is perceived and received on the users' end. While Internet users often claim to heavily rely on the credentials of the information source when assessing the credibility of online health information (Thon & Jucks, 2017), only a handful of studies have empirically tested perceptions of the collective source enabled by crowdsourcing technologies, and the findings are mixed. Judgments of the crowds' ability are often divergent. ...
... The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) proposes two routes of information processing: In the central route, individuals engage in effortful processing and tend to make judgments based on content factors such as the quality of the arguments; however, when they are in the peripheral route due to lack of motivation or resources, they tend to make decisions based on peripheral cues such as message length and source attributes. Consistent with prior findings that information seekers often heavily rely on the credentials of the online information source for their credibility evaluation (Thon & Jucks, 2017), our study shows that judgments of crowdsourced content seem to be largely influenced by source trustworthiness and other non-content factors. Extending the original ELM's conceptualization of peripheral cues, our study shows that technological factors such as interface interactivity can also bias judgments. ...
Crowdsourcing websites such as Wikipedia have become go-to places for health information. To what extent do we trust such health content that is generated by other Internet users? Will it make a difference if such entries are curated by medical professionals? Does the affordance of crowdsourcing make users feel like they themselves could be contributors, and does that influence their credibility judgments? We explored these questions with a 2 (Crowdsourcing: absence vs. presence) × 2 (Professional source: absence vs. presence) × 2 (Message: sunscreen vs. milk) between-subjects experiment (N = 189). Two indirect paths for crowdsourcing effects were found. The crowd-as-source path suggests that crowdsour- cing negatively affects content credibility through decreased source trustworthiness and information completeness. In contrast, the self-as-source path indicates that crowdsourcing elevates source trust- worthiness via heightened interactivity and sense of control. Although the additional professional source raises perceived gatekeeping on the site, it does not have substantial influence on credibility judgments. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
... Existing studies have explored the potential factors affecting online information credibility in general (Cheung, Lee & Rabjohn, 2008Fogg, 2003;Jung, Walsh-Childers & Kim, 2016;Qiu, Pang & Lim, 2012;Thon & Jucks, 2017) and information credibility on social media in particular (Aladhadh, Zhang & Sanderson, 2019;Borah & Xiao, 2018;Cooley & Parks-Yancy, 2019;Shariff, Zhang & Sanderson, 2017;Xie, Wang, Chen & Xiang, 2016;Yin, Sun, Fang & Lim, 2018). However, the research into user evaluation of microblog information credibility is still in an early stage, and a holistic perspective is lacking because few unique and contextual features of microblogs have been identified. ...
... Message content: message accuracy Sender-related factor: source expertise Thon and Jucks (2017) Online health information credibility Sender-related factor: medical vs. nonmedical, authors' language use (technical vs. every day) Information credibility on social media Xie et al. (2016) Information credibility on microblogs Sender-related factor: gatekeeping behavior of microblog users Shariff et al. (2017) Credibility evaluation of news on Twitter ...
The spreading of misinformation and disinformation is a great problem on microblogs, leading user evaluation of information credibility a critical issue. This study incorporates two message format factors related to multimedia usage on microblogs (vividness and multimedia diagnosticity) with two well-discussed factors for information credibility (i.e., argument quality and source credibility) as a holistic framework to investigate user evaluation of microblog information credibility. Further, the study draws on two-factor theory and its variant three-factor lens to explain the nonlinear effects of the above factors on microblog information credibility. An online survey was conducted to test the proposed framework by collecting data from microblog users. The research findings reveal that for the effects on microblog information credibility: (1) argument quality (a hygiene factor) exerts a decreasing incremental effect; (2) source credibility (a bivalent factor) exerts only a linear effect; and (3) multimedia diagnosticity (a motivating factor) exerts an increasing incremental effect. This study adds to current knowledge about information credibility by proposing an insightful framework to understand the key predictors of microblog information credibility and further examining the nonlinear effects of these predictors.
... This type of information can include characteristics of the author such as expertise (Petty et al., 1981;Yi et al., 2013) or public fame (Petty et al., 1983). Likewise, aspects such as in-text citations and a bibliographical reference section (Zaboski and Therriault, 2020), scientific jargon (Thon and Jucks, 2017), or tone of language (König and Jucks, 2019) can fall into this category. This framework allows for classifying two existing effects as a consequence of peripheral criteria processing: the "easiness effect" and the "scientificness effect." ...
Lay readers’ trust in scientific texts can be shaped by perceived text easiness and scientificness. The two effects seem vital in a time of rapid science information sharing, yet have so far only been examined separately. A preregistered online study was conducted to assess them jointly, to probe for author and text trustworthiness overlap, and to investigate interindividual influences on the effects. N = 1467 lay readers read four short research summaries, with easiness and scientificness (high vs low) being experimentally varied. A more scientific writing style led to higher perceived author and text trustworthiness. Higher personal justification belief, lower justification by multiple-sources belief, and lower need for cognitive closure attenuated the influence of scientificness on trustworthiness. However, text easiness showed no influence on trustworthiness and no interaction with text scientificness. Implications for future studies and suggestions for enhancing the perceived trustworthiness of research summaries are discussed.
... Consequently, an intentional flouting of recommended risk mitigation strategies may be rooted in a distrust of the health information source (Durkee, 2020) or because of inadequate knowledge to manage individual health. Previous studies examine the correlation of source credibility and health literacy (Dobbs et al., 2020;Thon & Jucks, 2017) among college students. However, there's a dearth of literature that examines the mediating role of source credibility in association with HBM variable in predicting college students' preventative behaviors ( Figure 1). ...
In this study, we examined the effects of perceived source credibility of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and college student health literacy in predicting the likelihood of enacting preventative behaviors related to mitigating COVID-19. Using the Health Belief Model (HBM) as an explanatory tool, we analyzed how perceived source credibility and health literacy levels predict college students’ likelihood to enact preventative behaviors during a public health crisis. Sample population entirely consisted of undergraduate students enrolled in a basic communication course at a large, southern university. The participants completed survey questionnaires about their perceived health literacy, health beliefs, trust in the CDC, perceptions of COVID-19, and demographic measures during the fall 2020 semester. A multiple regression analysis revealed that (a) HBM predictors, health literacy and CDC source credibility accounted for 44% of the variance in likelihood of enacting preventative health behaviors, and (b) health literacy, CDC source credibility, and perceived severity were all positive predictors of enacting preventative health behaviors, while (c) perceived barriers negatively predicted enactment of preventative health behaviors. Perceived susceptibility and perceived benefits were not significant predictors of college student risk mitigation. Our data suggests the importance of health literacy and source credibility in predicting college students’ likelihood to enact preventative behaviors during public health crises.
... The last attribute is the language used in delivering the information. Various factors influence information seekers' credibility and trustworthiness judgments [23,24], but the language style of an information source seems to be an especially influential factor [25,26]. ...
Over the years, social media has quickly changed information andcommunication technologies. More people are utilizing social mediaas a tool not only for communication but also to receive and spreadthe news about politics, business, and society. The purpose of thisstudy is to determine the combination of attributes in deliveringcredible news information on social media that are most preferredby the Filipinos using a Conjoint Analysis Approach. A total of193 respondents voluntarily participated in this study and rated25 combinations of attributes created from the orthogonal designusing SPPS 25. Specifically, this study utilized different attributessuch as the social media platform, delivery accounts, delivery type,language, and level of information. The results showed that socialmedia platform was the attribute most considered by the respon-dents (38.019%), followed by delivery accounts (30.508%), the levelof information extent (14.623%), the language used (8.907%), andthe least considered were delivery type (7.943%). The result of thestudy will benefit the government, news media firms, and otherprivate sectors. It might aid in providing reliable news content onsocial media and reduce the country’s high misinformation anddisinformation rates.
... The content of the research has been conducted in care centre setups, which are more related to the healthcare sector. Readers and/or knowledge seekers perceive that the research was done by authors who possess subject expertise, to provide much more reliable information than the ones who don't have (Thon & Jucks, 2017) ...
... Epistemic engagement can also take the form of source evaluation when individuals assess the epistemic authority of the person behind the information. The use of scientific language may suggest expertise in a scientific topic (Thon & Jucks, 2017), but evaluating the underlying motives for posting a piece of information -whether to persuade or inform, or when the information is two-versus one-sided -also factors into how a source is evaluated. Evaluating information that comes into conflict with one's prior beliefs about a topic can also encourage more effortful engagement with information (Bråten et al., 2016). ...
This exploratory case study aimed to understand to what extent epistemic emotions are connected to effortful engagement when young adults were incidentally exposed to textual information snippets on a simulated social media timeline. Using discourse analysis, we draw on think-aloud data from fifteen young adults, to identify participants' emotional reactions to different textual snippets and to examine when these might prompt effortful engagement, as indicated by reliance on epistemic beliefs, source evaluation, evidence evaluation or science literacy. Our findings provide two important insights. We found that during online information encounters, frustration, curiosity and confusion were co-occurring with effortful engagement and were triggered, in particular, by posts that included negative words. We also found that epistemic engagement occurred even when boredom was verbalized first and was followed by frustration or confusion. We discuss the implications of this work for informal and formal learning environments.
... PSC is positively associated with a collection of attitudinal and behavioral variables, such as message compliance (Meulenaer et al., 2018;Umeh, 2012), attitude toward the advertised product (Berry & Shields, 2014), intention to take the advice offered in a given message (Bernhardt & Felter, 2004;Embacher et al., 2018;Hassan et al., 2007;Wang et al., 2008), perceived message credibility (Thon & Jucks, 2007), and message persuasiveness (Case et al., 2018;Nan, 2013;Pornpitakpan, 2004). Nevertheless, some research shows that high PSC does not always predict desirable communication outcomes. ...
Adopting the theory of planned behavior framework, this online experiment investigated the effects of social endorsement cues, message source, and responsibility attribution on young adults’ perceptions of COVID-19 vaccination and intentions to get vaccinated. Four major findings were identified. First, social endorsement cues positively affect attitude, subjective norms, and vaccination intentions. Second, individuals perceive an expert source as the most credible, but a media outlet source results in the most positive subjective norms. Third, responsibility attributions do not generate significant effects on the dependent variables. Finally, social endorsement cues and message source both have some interaction effects with perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 on message outcomes.
... Similarly, the use of highly technical language in health education materials negatively affects the perceived expertise of the author and the credibility of the information [18]. Overuse of medical jargon is a potential consequence of training clinicians in medical Spanish or other languages. ...
Introduction
Patient-clinician communication is a key factor in patient satisfaction with care. Clinicians take medical language courses to improve communication with linguistically diverse populations, yet little is known about how patients perceive clinicians’ skills.
Methods
We designed a prospective, comparative survey study of patient perception of clinician communication using a convenience sampling of health professionals enrolled in an interprofessional medical Spanish course. We analyzed the patient-reported quality of communication skills from 214 clinical encounters and self-evaluations of 18 clinicians with Spanish- and English-speaking patients.
Results
Communication scores were lower for Spanish vs. English encounters as reported by both patients and clinicians (p<0.001). Clinician-reported scores were lower than patient-reported scores in Spanish encounters (9.05±0.23 vs. 8.05±0.23; p<0.001), whereas there was no difference in English encounters (11.17±0.15 vs. 11.35±0.19; p=0.914). The effect of language remained significant (p<0.001) when controlling for medical setting and complexity.
Conclusion
Spanish-speaking patients report lower-quality communication from clinicians learning Spanish than do English-speaking patients. Incorporating and further evaluating patient perceptions of clinician Spanish communication skills may improve language-appropriate healthcare and clinician education.
... A message can be considered expert when the source enables easy engagement for both experienced users and beginners (Guido, Prete & Sammarco, 2010). More recent studies in different contexts, including tourism and online healthcare, have also emphasised the substantial effects of source trustworthiness on various consumers' attitudes, information adoption intentions (Balouchi, et al., 2017;Ayeh et al., 2013;Thon & Jucks, 2017;Thomas et al., 2019;Lo & Yao, 2019). Perceived expertise is important for organisations as it allows for increased visibility (Treem & Leonardi, 2013), although to our knowledge, this was not incorporated in practice. ...
This study examines the effect of consumers’ perceived credibility of information on SNS on their attitude and intention to adopt this information in the Arab world. The study adopted a quantitative research approach using a survey questionnaire conducted among 317 individuals. Structural equation modelling was conducted. The results highlighted that there are positive direct effects of authority cues, expertise, trustworthiness, social identity and argument strength on perceived credibility. Although both authority cues and transparency have non-significant direct effects on perceived credibility, they have positive direct effects on attitude and indirect effects on intention via attitude. Finally, the positive impact of credibility on intention is mediated by attitude. This study contributes to the literature on the credibility of information on SNS and its effect on consumers’ intention to adopt it.
... Assessable designs should facilitate the understanding of how the information in internet-based participatory environments is produced, how an environment is sustained, and how to contribute to the space [86]. In fact, prior research investigating the processes individuals use to determine credibility found that users are likely to refer to the source; sources are deemed more credible if the poster is a professional expert or an expert according to community status or past engagement [87][88][89]. ...
Background:
Information behavior describes all human behaviors in relation to information. Individuals experiencing disruption or stigma often use internet-based tools and spaces to meet their associated information needs. One such context is pregnancy loss, which, although impactful and common, has been absent from much of feminist and reproductive health and information behavior scholarship. By understanding information behavior after pregnancy loss and accounting for it in designing internet-based information spaces, we can take a meaningful step toward countering the stigma and silence that many who experience such loss endure, facilitate coping, and make space for diverse pregnancy narratives in our society.
Objective:
This study's objective is to provide a characterization of internet-based information behavior after pregnancy loss.
Methods:
We examined internet-based information behavior after pregnancy loss through 9 in-depth interviews with individuals residing in the United States. We analyzed the data by using open and axial coding.
Results:
We identified the following three themes in relation to participants' information behavior in internet-based spaces: needed information types, information-related concerns, and information outcomes. We drew from information behavior frameworks to interpret the processes and concerns described by participants as they moved from recognizing information needs to searching for information and to using information and experiencing outcomes. Specifically, we aligned these themes with information use concepts from the information behavior literature-information search, knowledge construction, information production, information application, and information effects. Participants' main concerns centered on being able to easily find information (ie, searchability), particularly on topics that had already been covered (ie, persistence), and, once found, being able to assess the information for its relevance, helpfulness, and credibility (ie, assessability). We suggest the following design implications that support health information behavior: assessability, persistence, and searchability.
Conclusions:
We examined internet-based information behavior in the context of pregnancy loss, an important yet silenced reproductive health experience. Owing to the prevalence of information seeking during pregnancy, we advocate that generic pregnancy-related information spaces should address the needs related to pregnancy loss that we identified in addition to spaces dedicated to pregnancy loss. Such a shift could not only support those who use these spaces to manage pregnancies and then experience a loss but also help combat the silence and stigma associated with loss and the linear and normative narrative by which pregnancies are often represented.
... On another note, the communication of uncertainty can be viewed as one among many characteristics that characterize a scientific discourse style. Future studies should take such other features into account to study the extent to which different markers of "scientificness" such as the use of citations (Thomm & Bromme, 2012), the application of jargon (Shulman et al., 2020) or the use of technical language (Thon & Jucks, 2017) affect the perceived trustworthiness of a SI. As uncertainty is not usually communicated isolated from other information, future research could also investigate how additionally given information, such as explaining the relevance or cause of uncertainty, affect source trustworthiness (cf. ...
Scientific knowledge is intrinsically uncertain; hence, it can only provide a tentative orientation for political decisions. One illustrative example is the discussion that has taken place on introducing mandatory mask-wearing to contain the coronavirus. In this context, this study investigates how the communication of uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of mandatory mask-wearing affects the perceived trustworthiness of communicators. Participants ( N = 398) read a fictitious but evidence-based text supporting mandatory mask-wearing. First, epistemic uncertainty was communicated by including a high (vs. low) amount of lexical hedges (LHs) to the text (e.g., “maybe”). Second, we varied whether the source of information was a scientist or a politician. Thereafter, participants rated the source's trustworthiness. Results show that the scientist was perceived as more competent and as having more integrity but not as more benevolent than the politician. The use of LHs did not impact trustworthiness ratings.
... In addition to the credibility of the video information, trust in the uploader is an important source of trust in the uploaded video information. Previous studies have shown that audiences must first judge the credibility of the video uploader, before deciding whether to conduct further communication [59][60][61]. An audience's trust in an uploader comes from their influence and certification on the platform [62]. ...
(1) Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, users share and obtain COVID-19 information through video platforms, but only a few COVID-19 videos become popular among most audiences. Therefore, it is a very interesting and important research question to explore the influencing factors of the popularity of COVID-19 videos during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) Our research collects video data related to the keyword “COVID-19” on video platform, the data are analyzed by content analysis and empirical analysis. We then constructed a theoretical model based on the information adoption model; (3) A total of 251 videos were divided into three categories. The least common category was the data and analysis category (11.2%), followed by the prevention and control status category (13.5%); the knowledge and general science category was the most common (75.3%). From the perspective of video quality, the information sources of most videos are relatively reliable, and the content of medical information is low. The research results showed that short video lengths, longer descriptions, more reliable video sources and lower medical information content were more popular with audiences. Audiences are more likely to be attracted to videos in the prevention and control status category and knowledge and general science category. Videos uploaded by uploaders who have a higher influence are more popular with audiences; (4) Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, information quality (video length, description length, video content type, and medical information and content index) and source credibility (information source reliability, influence and certification type) all significantly influence the popularity level of COVID-19 videos. Our research conclusions can provide management suggestions for the platform, make videos released by uploaders more popular with audiences, and help audiences better understand COVID-19 information and make prevention and control efforts.
... In online communities, users communicate via the same platform, so information source credibility is derived from the trustworthiness of individual users. In addition, users rely on the source's credibility to make decisions about further communication [63,64]. Previous research has demonstrated that source credibility is an important antecedent variable in information adoption, including the identity of the information provider and their influence within the virtual community [30,43]. ...
An online community is one of the important ways for people with mental disorders to receive assistance and obtain support. This study aims to help users with mental disorders to obtain more support and communication through online communities, and to provide community managers with the possible influence mechanisms based on the information adoption model. We obtained a total of 49,047 posts of an online mental health communities in China, over a 40-day period. Then we used a combination of text mining and empirical analysis. Topic and sentiment analysis were used to derive the key variables—the topic of posts that the users care about most, and the emotion scores contained in posts. We then constructed a theoretical model based on the information adoption model. As core independent variables of information quality, on online mental health communities, the topic of social experience in posts (0.368 ***), the topic of emotional expression (0.353 ***), and the sentiment contained in the text (0.002 *) all had significant positive relationships with the number of likes and reposts. This study found that the users of online mental health communities are more attentive to the topics of social experience and emotional expressions, while they also care about the non-linguistic information. This study highlights the importance of helping community users to post on community-related topics, and gives administrators possible ways to help users gain the communication and support they need.
... El interés por este tema surgió durante esa época con el fin de aumentar el apoyo de las personas hacia la guerra, estudiar el cambio de actitudes y desarrollar una teoría de la persuasión (Self, 1996). A partir de entonces, se han originado múltiples investigaciones, que en los últimos años se han vuelto mucho más específicas, puesto que se enfocan en la credibilidad de los mensajes de los nuevos medios y de los nuevos nuevos nuevos medios, así como en la credibilidad de los medios como fuentes de información (Sbaffi & Rowley, 2017;Shin, Lee & Hwang, 2017;Thon & Jucks, 2017;Borah & Xiao, 2018;De Meulenaer, De Pelsmacker & Dens, 2018;Embacher, McGloin & Richards, 2018;Klawitter & Hargittai, 2018;Machackova & Smahel, 2018;Popescu et al., 2018;Valizadeh-Haghi, Rahmatizadeh, Ansari, & Hamzehei, 2018;Choi, 2020;Masílamani, Sriram & Rozario, 2020;Song, Zhang & Yu, 2020;Chang, Zhang & Gwizdka, 2021), investigaciones que recalcan la vinculación entre la credibilidad y las percepciones, la utilidad percibida, la construcción de creencias y comportamientos, la experiencia de la fuente del mensaje, la facilidad para obtener la información, la calidad de la información, la experiencia en el uso de tecnologías digitales, los procesos de búsqueda de información, la retroalimentación recibida, los motivos personales, el diseño de la información, además de las características biológicas de los autores, permiten la construcción de una identidad digital de los emisores y los usuarios. ...
En medio de un panorama medi�tico amplio y diverso, entre los viejos y los nuevos medios, no est� muy clara la manera en que las personas se informan sobre temas de la salud y mucho menos se conoce la credibilidad que se atribuye hacia los medios y hacia sus contenidos, por lo que se realiz� una investigaci�n cuantitativa de corte exploratorio y descriptivo a 151 habitantes de la Ciudad de M�xico mediante la aplicaci�n de un cuetionario durante la pandemia provocada por la covid-19 (julio-diciembre 2020), encontr�ndose que las p�ginas web especializadas son la principal fuente de informaci�n y las que poseen una mayor credibilidad en temas de salud; sin embargo, con una muestra tan peque�a, los resultados no son concluyentes y es necesario realizar una investigaci�n m�s amplia, incluso de corte cualitativo para profundizar m�s en los elementos que conducen a las personas a buscar y evaluar este tipo de informaci�n.
... In addition, it also becomes difficult when a health professional uses technical jargon. Resorting to too much technical jargon has the possibility to reduce the dissemination of knowledge, because forum users with less contextual expertise might find it less credible (Thon and Jucks, 2017). Hence, to deal with such circumstances, individuals actively seek additional information (Lagoe and Atkin, 2015). ...
This research establishes a theoretical framework for evaluating antecedents of the information seeking behaviors of online forum participants with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We evaluated the proposed framework using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) after gathering data using a cross-sectional survey. We subsequently assessed the framework using importance-performance map analysis (IPMA). Findings suggest that perceived ease of use does not singularly influence COPD forum users' information seeking behavior. IPMA analysis reveals that the opportunity to interact with other forum members creates the greatest impact on COPD forum users' mindsets, among all the indicators. For healthcare professionals, the results of this study provide a blueprint in terms of utilizing COPD online forums to foster recurrent associations among forum administrators and users and by creating a strong social and informational resource for COPD information seekers.
... Nonetheless, from a communication-centered perspective, it is reasonable to assume that the perceived capability of interlocutors is related to their credibility and persuasiveness (Burgoon et al., 1990;Thon & Jucks, 2017). The current study has obtained empirical evidence to corroborate this classic notion in a modern organizational setting and thereby bridged the gap between the literatures on innovation diffusion, leadership for change, and uncertainty management. ...
This study coupled the theory of uncertainty management (TUM) with the notion of transformational leadership (TFL) to examine how the uncertainty over the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies affects employees. SEM analyses with two-wave data collected in Japan (N = 1318 employee–supervisor dyads) revealed that uncertainty is negatively associated and TFL is positively associated with employees’ job performance. In addition, consistent with TUM, the digital literacy of leaders was found to moderate the effects of TFL such that the positive association between TFL and job performance disappeared when employees simultaneously feel high uncertainty and find supervisors low on digital literacy. These findings are discussed with reference to the relevant literature.
... The inventory since has been re-evaluated in further studies, where model fit and reliability replicated well (e.g., Merk and Rosman 2019), and has been used to investigate several questions in the context of online science communication. For example, the METI has been employed to investigate whether laypeople adapt their trustworthiness ratings about scientist blog authors who disclose ethical aspects related to their field of study (Hendriks et al. 2016b), who use technical language (Thon and Jucks 2017;Zimmermann and Jucks 2018), who use aggressive language (König and Jucks 2019), or who are attacked in social media (Gierth and Bromme 2020). ...
Trust plays a pivotal role in many different contexts and thus has been investigated by researchers in a variety of disciplines. In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive overview of methodological approaches to investigating trust and its antecedents. We explain how quantitative methods may be used to measure expectations about a trustee or instances of communication about trust efficiently, and we explain how using qualitative measures may be beneficial to researching trust in less explored contexts and for further theory development. We further point out that mixed methods research (uniting both quantitative and qualitative approaches) may be able to grasp the full complexity of trust. Finally, we introduce how agent-based modeling may be used to simulate and predict complex trust relationships on different levels of analysis. We elaborate on challenges and advantages of all these different methodological approaches to researching trust and conclude with recommendations to guide trust researchers in their planning of future investigations on both situational trust and long-term developments of trust in different contexts, and we emphasize why we believe that such undertakings will benefit from interdisciplinary approaches.
... For instance, when a scientist speaks about the ethical side of a scientific issue, this causes viewers to have a higher perception of her benevolence and integrity (Hendriks et al. 2015). When people search for health-related information online, they seem to consciously attribute higher expertise, integrity, and benevolence to a medical expert rather than to a non-medical expert (Thon and Jucks 2016). But, if the expert is introduced as a lobbyist, her presumed conflict of interest negatively affects how viewers perceive her trustworthiness (König and Jucks 2019a). ...
In modern societies, one main goal for educated citizens and educators is to pursue scientific literacy. However, given the high complexity of scientific information and the fact that no single person can rely solely on their own knowledge when making science-related decisions, achieving scientific literacy is not straightforward: This chapter focuses on how people cope with these hurdles using epistemic trust as a central cognitive prerequisite. Particularly, to be able to learn and make decisions about everyday life, laypersons (trustors) must depend on the knowledge of others who know better (experts/trustees). Firstly, we describe the concept of epistemic trust, whereby we argue that epistemic trust should be considered as a learning goal for science education. Secondly, we describe trustworthiness cues that could guide laypersons through a decision on whom to trust (source judgments, language style) and which claims to believe (evidence, consensus, replication). Thirdly, we discuss the role of discursive practices (explanation, argumentation) that could enhance laypersons’ understanding of science and insights into their own limits of knowledge. Lastly, based on how epistemic trust can be enhanced through understanding trustworthiness cues and being open to active engagement in discussions about science, we offer implications for fostering epistemic trust in (higher) education.
... First, we included three broad messaging tactics that might be broadly useful for fostering positive beliefs about the communicator, including choosing to speak in more or less formal ways to better CONNECT with different audiences (Thon & Jucks, 2017), to FRAME issues in ways meant to resonate with specific audiences (Myers et al., 2012), and telling compelling STORIES meant to provide insight into a speakers' motivation and journey (Olson, 2015). The storytelling tactic was the only tactic included in the study that we sought to extend, but it is one that is often discussed by trainers (Dudo et al., 2021). ...
The careful choice of tactics—such as specific messages, styles, channels, or sources—is how strategic science communicators ensure that the time and money going into communication results in intended changes to chosen audiences’ beliefs, feelings, and frames, as well as associated behaviors. Using a sample of scientists from American research universities ( N = 516), we assess scientists’ willingness to use 11 different communication tactics and the relationship between these tactics and potential predictors. We find that scientists are open to a range of communication tactics. Practical and theoretical implications for science communication are discussed.
... First, research shows the public relies on source cues to process information (Botero et al. 2015;Hartman and Weber 2009), assessing source credibility (Darmofal 2005) and often overlooking information credibility. That is, people are more persuaded by arguments given by expertsthose possessing formal qualifications or experience on the issue (Thon and Jucks 2017). This reliance on expert cues could be exacerbated during a health pandemic, when people may suspend their many biasesinstead prioritizing accuracy goals in line with their own safety. ...
The health and economic outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic will in part be determined by how effectively experts can communicate information to the public and the degree to which people follow expert recommendation. Using a survey experiment conducted in May of 2020 with almost 5,000 respondents, this paper examines the effect of source cues and message frames on perceptions of information credibility in the context of COVID-19. Each health recommendation was framed by expert or non-expert sources, was fact- or experience-based, and suggested potential gain or loss to test if either the source cue or framing of issues affected responses to the pandemic. We find no evidence that either source cue or message framing influence people’s responses—instead, respondents’ ideological predispositions, media consumption, and age explain much of the variation in survey responses, suggesting that public health messaging may face challenges from growing ideological cleavages in American politics.
... However, other work suggests that the public also mistrusts health experts on many health issues (Cummings, 2014). Previous work health behavior change messages paints a mixed picture, with some work suggesting that experts are more trusted and persuasive at convincing individuals to adopt healthy behaviors (e.g., Case et al., 2018;Freed et al., 2011;Kareklas et al., 2015;Thon & Jucks, 2017), and other work showing no effect of source expertise (e.g., Burrows et al., 2000;Hu & Shyam Sundar, 2010;Poorisat et al., 2019). ...
The present work empirically explores whether experts are trusted more or more persuasive than an “average Joe” when engaging in policy advocacy on public health topics. I conducted a 2 (topic: climate change vs. COVID-19) X 2 (source: expert vs. nonexpert) experimental study with an US adult sample (N = 486). Using Bayes factors to quantify evidence for null and alternative hypothesis, I find substantial evidence that at least under the conditions present in the study, experts are perceived to be higher in expertise, but equal in trustworthiness to the “average Joe”. In turn, experts are equally persuasive to nonexperts on both topics. My work suggests that when engaging in policy advocacy on public health matters, the fact that an advocate is an expert on a topic can be acknowledged by audiences, but this may not necessarily help (nor necessarily harm) one’s perceived trustworthiness or ability to persuade an audience. More research is needed to understand how experts can bolster their trustworthiness and persuasiveness when advocating for public health policies.
Who is perceived to be an expert on COVID-19 vaccination on social media? We conducted two experimental studies investigating how the presence of biomedical credentials on social media profiles impacts users’ perceived expertise. Participants (Experiment 1 N = 200; Experiment 2 N = 201) viewed a series of Twitter profiles that appeared with or without biomedical credentials and judged to what extent they believed each user was an expert on the topic of COVID-19 vaccination. We found that the presence of biomedical credentials consistently increased perceptions of expertise, including among unvaccinated, vaccine-hesitant, and conservative participants. This work supports existing observations that biomedical credentials may be leveraged by both pro- and anti-vaccine communities to increase perceived credibility and message reach, and counters the narrative that those with anti-vaccination attitudes do not recognize biomedical credentials as conferring expertise.
Lay readers' trust in scientific texts can be shaped by perceived text easiness and scientificness. The two effects seem vital in a time of rapid science information sharing, yet have so far only been examined separately. A preregistered online study was conducted to assess them jointly, to probe for author and text trustworthiness overlap, and to investigate interindividual influences on the effects. N = 1467 lay readers read four short research summaries, with easiness and scientificness (high vs low) being experimentally varied. A more scientific writing style led to higher perceived author and text trustworthiness. Higher personal justification belief, lower justification by multiple-sources belief, and lower need for cognitive closure attenuated the influence of scientificness on trustworthiness. However, text easiness showed no influence on trustworthiness and no interaction with text scientificness. Implications for future studies and suggestions for enhancing the perceived trustworthiness of research summaries are discussed.
The high-frequency spread of health rumors among the elderly in the WeChat field has become a prominent social problem. In order to better control rumor, it is necessary to clarify its micro dissemination mechanism. The paper relies on the MOA theoretical framework to clarify the motivational factors, opportunity factors, and ability factors of the spread of health rumors among the elderly people, and uses interview methods to study the micro dissemination mechanism of health rumors. Research has found that the spread of health rumors among elderly people mainly follows the path of “getting health rumors ? health rumors diffusing within peer groups ? health rumors overflowing from the circle of elderly people ? family members contained”, and forms a “Four Point Dissemination” mechanism that connects peer groups and primary groups, including origin, nodes, fulcrums, and endpoints. From the perspective of communication characteristics, the spread of health rumors has a strong closeness, inter-generational, and situational nature, presenting a double-layer communication structure that intersects within the circle and connects outside the circle, and has a prominent Pareto effect.
This study aims to investigate consumers’ modification of retrieval platform switch paths across health-related search tasks and learning characteristics via such a switch. Mixed research methods were used in this study. A lab user experiment was designed to obtain data on consumers’ health information search behaviour. Screen recordings and interview data were both coded and analysed. Research results show that health consumers acquired different kinds of health knowledge units from different retrieval platforms, and there are five change patterns of retrieval platform switch paths which reveal three types of learning. The results suggest that health consumers learn not only task-related knowledge but also retrieval skills during the switch of retrieval platforms. The research findings further develop the search as learning process research framework from the dimension of retrieval platform switch patterns and contribute to the enhancement of consumers’ health information retrieval abilities.
The term ‘fake news’ aims to delegitimize news and is weaponized by political leaders and partisan media. Research has noted the negative impact of the phrase ‘fake news’ yet little work has investigated alternative discourse. We explore whether the phrase ‘fake news’ is distinct from alternative phrases such as ‘misinformation’ and ‘false news.’ Using two experiments, we compare effects of these phrases on evaluations of trust and credibility regarding U.S. news media. Results indicate that ‘fake news’ exerts disproportionate negative effects on perceptions of news and journalists, when controlling for political ideology, compared to ‘misinformation.’ Effects are pronounced when the phrase is used by a politician. Findings challenge research to address the communicative underpinnings of the fake news phenomenon rather than focus on “fake news” as a varietal of misinformation. Insights are discussed for news organizations seeking to distance themselves from the term while providing audiences with accurate information.
Elastic language is a phenomenon in linguistics that refers to how we stretch the meanings of words, depending on the context in which they are used – for example many, about 20, perhaps, could be. This study looks specifically at elastic language in the fields of medicine and healthcare, showing how it is used to serve both the patient's and the professional's needs. It explores the pragmatics and metapragmatics of elasticity in the delivery of online medical information as a way of avoiding miscommunication. Based on data from Chinese and English sources, it takes a cross-cultural perspective, to present an account of harmony and disharmony between professional medical websites and their users. Adding exciting new dimensions to the fields of health communication and pragmatics, it is essential reading for scholars and advanced students in semantics, pragmatics, discourse analysis and interactional linguistics, as well as professionals involved in healthcare and communication.
Students have difficulty assessing the quality of information. They often rely on content-focused criteria to make reliability assessments and, as a result, may accept inaccurate information. Despite the impact of poor source evaluation skills, educational researchers have not widely examined source evaluation behaviours in authentic environments or tasks. Students’ epistemic cognition, or their thinking about the epistemic properties of specific knowledge claims and sources, is one promising avenue to better understand their source evaluation behaviours. Two studies were conducted to explore students’ epistemic thinking. In Study 1, college students (n = 12) reported their reliability criteria in focus group interviews. Four of these participants (n = 4) also examined the reliability of an online news article. Grounded theory was used to infer students’ epistemic ideals and reliable epistemic processes. In Study 2, students (n = 43) rank-ordered two news articles and justified how they assigned each article’s rank in a written response. Most students were able to accurately rank-order the articles using relevant epistemic processes. Cluster analysis was used to characterize the evaluation criteria used. Surprisingly, more participants who justified their decisions using relevance criteria accurately rank-ordered the articles. The role of direct and indirect indicators of reliability are discussed through the lens of the Apt-AIR framework of epistemic thinking.
The learning styles myth is highly prevalent among (pre-service) teachers. Current findings emphasise the effectiveness of conceptual change texts for dissolving misconceptions. This benefit is explained by cognitive conflicts evoked by contrasting misconceptions and facts, encouraging the reflection of one’s own beliefs. It has not been investigated yet if and under which conditions podcasts can promote conceptual change among pre-service teachers. This study investigates whether podcasts can induce conceptual change regarding the learning styles myth among pre-service teachers. First, it is assumed that conceptual change podcasts lead to a greater decline of students’ beliefs regarding the learning styles myth compared to factual podcasts. Second, it is expected that everyday language leads to a stronger decrease of students’ beliefs than academic language as findings from science communication point to the relevance of a language adapted to the addressees for the persuasiveness of arguments. An experimental study with a 2 × 2-design (type of podcast: conceptual change vs. factual podcast; linguistic style: everyday vs. academic language) with 181 pre-service teachers was conducted. Students’ beliefs about the learning styles myth were measured immediately before and after the intervention as well as four weeks later. As assumed, students’ agreement with the learning styles myth decreased stronger after listening to the conceptual change podcasts compared to factual podcasts (p < 0,001, ηp2 = 0,07), and when the podcasts were in everyday language compared to factual language (p < 0,01, ηp2 = 0,04). Consequently, conceptual change podcasts in everyday language seem suitable for revising misconceptions among pre-service teachers.
How do we talk about movements and spatial relations in the context of sailing? On the one hand, there are many parallels to everyday life: sailors move towards a goal, they try to avoid collision, they orient themselves in relation to landmarks. On the other hand, a number of factors are fundamentally different. This chapter explores various ways in which spatial concepts differ from everyday experience, based on language data collected in an explorative online questionnaire given to sailors and non-sailors. Participants were invited to describe various spatial aspects shown in a short video clip, and were then asked some more general questions about their spatial experience during and outside sailing. Results show that, naturally, sailors used their expertise and knowledge of technical terminology to a wide extent. However, they also attended to different aspects of the situations shown in the video clip than non-sailors: they referred to the wind and the sails and sometimes to starboard and port, but rarely used everyday directional concepts such as forward, left and right; these were used frequently by non-sailors, who also referred to various types of landmarks more frequently. When asked to describe where the coast was in a specific snapshot of the sailing situation, sailors answered ‘ahead’ or provided a direction in relation to the boat, whereas non-sailors answered ‘ahead’ or provided a direction in relation to the person in the boat. Furthermore, sailors reported being generally aware of wind and compass direction more frequently than non-sailors, and there was a greater connection between these two than for non-sailors. Wind was mentioned as a decisive factor for orienting in space during sailing but not elsewhere. Altogether, the data suggest that sailing changes the way we think and communicate about spatial situations and concepts rather fundamentally, partially affecting the sailor’s everyday life.
Existing research on factors informing public perceptions of expert trustworthiness was largely conducted during stable periods and in long-established Western liberal democracies. This article asks whether the same factors apply during a major health crisis and in relatively new democracies. Drawing on 120 interviews and diaries conducted during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Serbia, we identify two additional factors not acknowledged in existing research, namely personal contact with experts and experts’ independence from political elites. We also examine how different factors interact and show how distrust of experts can lead to exposure to online misinformation.
Background:
The internet has become a major source of health information for general consumers. Web-based health information quality varies widely across websites and applications. It is critical to understand the factors that shape consumers' evaluation of web-based health information quality and the role that it plays in their appraisal and use of health information and information systems.
Objective:
This paper aimed to identify the antecedents and consequences of consumers' evaluation of web-based health information quality as a means to consolidate the related research stream and to inform future studies on web-based health information quality.
Methods:
We systematically searched 10 databases, examined reference lists, and conducted manual searches. Empirical studies that investigated consumers' evaluation of web-based health information quality, credibility, or trust and their respective relationships with antecedents or consequences were included.
Results:
We included 147 studies reported in 136 papers in the analysis. Among the antecedents of web-based health information quality, system navigability (ρ=0.56), aesthetics (ρ=0.49), and ease of understanding (ρ=0.49) had the strongest relationships with web-based health information quality. The strongest consequences of web-based health information quality were consumers' intentions to use health information systems (ρ=0.58) and satisfaction with health information (ρ=0.46). Web-based health information quality relationships were moderated by numerous cultural dimensions, research designs, and publication moderators.
Conclusions:
Consumers largely rely on peripheral cues and less on cues that require more information processing (eg, content comprehensiveness) to determine web-based health information quality. Surprisingly, the relationships between individual differences and web-based health information quality are trivial. Web-based health information quality has stronger effects on cognitive appraisals and behavioral intentions than on behavior. Despite efforts to include various moderators, a substantial amount of variance is still unexplained, indicating a need to study additional moderators. This meta-analysis provides broad and consistent evidence for web-based health information quality relationships that have been fractured and incongruent in empirical studies.
Despite the progress in vaccination, the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over in the United States. Due to lingering questions about the virus transmissivity and the emergence of new highly infectious strands, experts believe even fully vaccinated people should continue to adhere to mitigation guidelines, such as mask wearing. We conducted a survey experiment to investigate if messages from different leaders could encourage the already vaccinated population to continue following mitigation guidelines. In April, 2021, we surveyed 2,135 vaccinated registered voters in South Dakota and presented them with identical messages encouraging continued adherence to COVID-19 mitigation guidelines from a political, religious, or medical leader. Results from statistical analyses show that messaging from a religious leader was more effective than messages from either political or medical leaders. The results underscore both the effectiveness of religious leaders as public health messengers and limitations of political and medical leaders as messengers, and suggest that public health professionals and officials might find it beneficial to coordinate their efforts with leaders in faith communities.
The chapter provides a conceptual clarification of the concept 'public trust in science'. Our starting point is the model of trust formulated by Mayer, Davis, and Schoormann (1995), which has been widely used in trust research since then. Here, it is now specified for the context of citizens' encounter with science, by using the example of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular the Hydroxychloroquine controversy (which started with a heavily criticized as methodologically flawed study by French microbiologist D. Raoult, who continued to sell the study’s claims on the media). We differentiate trust from trustworthiness; and propose a distinction between epistemic trust (depending on science regarding the validity of knowledge) and instrumental trust (depending on science regarding its impact on one’s aims). We then introduce the notion of informed trust to describe that public trust in science has a rational basis. Finally, challenges and ways for the promotion of public trust in science are outlined.
This paper reviews the media representations of responsible coffee tourism practices during the pandemic of COVID-19 in Indonesia. The key aim is to identify the leading actor and the themes of responsible coffee tourism practices by critically analysing the stakeholders’ roles in coping with the disruption. The archival information from internet media in 2020 was collected via the Google search engine. The data were classified in three different time frames: the initial (January–April), the second midpoint (May–August), and the third midpoint (September–December). Subsequently, Leximancer was employed to assist the analysis of the collected 128 articles. The results indicated that the government institutions were the leading actors in encouraging responsible coffee tourism practices during the pandemic. Different themes of responsible coffee tourism practices emerged from the three-time periods investigated: operating business as usual, raising awareness of potential risks, and edification. The contribution of media representation to the business’ learning curve is discussed. The pandemic is not over yet. Nevertheless, the first-year discourses analysis could provide some guidelines for stakeholders’ future directions of managing crisis in tourism responsibly.
Background: Information asymmetry causes barriers for the patient’s decision-making in the online health community. Patients can rely on the physician’s self-disclosed information to alleviate it. However, the impact of physician’s self-disclosed information on the patient’s decision has rarely been discussed.
Objectives: To investigate the impact of the physician’s self-disclosed information on the patient’s decision in the online health community and to examine the moderating effect of the physician’s online reputation.
Methods: Drawing on the limited-capacity model of attention, we develop a theoretical model to estimate the impact of physician’s self-disclosure information on patient’s decision and the contingent roles of physician’s online reputation in online healthcare community by econometric methods. We designed a web crawler based on R language program to collect more than 20000 physicians’ data from their homepage in Haodf—a leading online healthcare community platform in China. The attributes of the physician’s information disclosure are measured by the following variables: emotion orientation, the quantity of information and the semantic topics diversity.
Results: The empirical analysis derives the following findings: (1) The emotion orientation in physician’s self-disclosure information is positively associated with patient’s decision; (2) Both excessive quantity of information and semantic topics diversity can raise barriers for patient’s decision; (3) When the level of physician’s online reputation is high, the negative effect of the quantity of information and semantic topics diversity are all strengthened while the positive effect of the emotion orientation is not strengthened.
Conclusions: This study has a profound importance for a deep understanding of the impact of physician’s self-disclosure information and contributes to the literature on information disclosure, the limited capacity model of attention, patient’s decision. Also, this study provides implications for practice.
Artificial agents such as embodied virtual agents, chatbots, voice user interface agents, and robots simulate human roles for dispensing information to people. According to the computers-are-social-actors paradigm, people respond to these technological artifacts with the same social rules originated from human-to-human social routines despite recognizing the artificiality of the entities’ intents, motivations, or emotions. Among the various applications of social rules in human-agent interactions, this study focuses on the social cues signaling expertise or competence (i.e., expertise cues) that can evoke social, affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses toward the artificial agents through activation of social stereotypes or heuristics. Based on a systematic review of experimental studies featuring artificial agents with expertise cues published between 2005 and July 2021 (n=63), this study proposed a classification model categorizing expertise cues into Demographics, Appearance, Social prestige, Specialization, Communication style, and Information quality (DASSCI). The DASSCI model can guide designers to logically devise and infuse relevant expertise cues into the designs of artificial agents. As per the computers-are-social-actors paradigm, this study also outlined the social and communication theories underpinning the implementations and effects of artificial agents’ expertise cues. The implications and recommendations for future directions regarding artificial agents with expertise cues across diverse application domains are discussed in this paper.
TikTok, a short-video app featuring video content between 15 and 60 seconds long, has in the last few years become immensely popular around the world. Because of its Chinese ownership and popularity among underage users, however, the platform has attracted criticism and been subject to close scrutiny. Despite these hurdles, TikTok has emerged as a hub for creativity and is being used by educators and governments to reach out to the younger demographic. This Special Section is among the first collections of articles in the growing field of studies on TikTok and its legacy apps. It provides a glimpse of the nascent framings, approaches, methodologies, and applications of TikTok studies in the field of social media scholarship.
Since its launch in 2018, TikTok has become one of the fastest growing social media applications in the world, being particularly popular among young people. Memetic videos, which often feature lip-syncing, dance routines, and comedic skits, are a defining feature of the platform. This study used quantitative content analysis and qualitative thematic analysis to examine science memes, an increasingly popular genre of memes on TikTok, by analyzing 1,368 TikTok videos that feature science-related content. The results of the study uncover the most influential science-content creators, the most prevalent content in science memes, and three vernacular styles of science memes on TikTok. The results expand the existing science-communication scholarship focusing on the context of social media. Understanding the role of memetic science content on short-video platforms, as well as in the youth digital culture in general, also provides valuable insights into how science communicators can better engage with members of the young generation.
Online health reviews are powerful since people use them to glean information about medical professionals. Nonetheless, less is known about what strategies can cultivate positive relationships with consumers when the latter are exposed to patient reviews. A 2 (review valence: negative vs. positive) x 3 (message interactivity: low vs medium vs high) x 2 (review responding source: customer service representative vs. dentist) between-subjects (N = 410) online experiment was conducted. The results showed that positive reviews (vs. negative reviews) and increased organizational responsiveness led to more favorable prospective patient reactions toward the reviewed dental practice.
Most importantly, this study detected a significant two-way interaction between review valence and message interactivity. As found, even in the presence of negative reviews higher levels of message interactivity on online review sites can significantly improve the health organization-public relationship (e.g., trust, commitment, satisfaction, control mutuality) as well as enhance organizational reputation and patient behavioral intentions.
Mediation tests revealed that source credibility mediated the effects of the review responding source on the relational outcomes, organizational reputation, and consumer behavioral intentions. More specifically, when a dentist replied to the reviews prospective patients perceived favorably the dental clinic and were more likely to visit it in the future than when a customer service representative responded. Theoretical and practical implications for effective online relationship management in the healthcare industry are discussed.
Many urgent problems that societies currently face-from climate change to a global pandemic-require citizens to engage with scientific information as members of democratic societies as well as to solve problems in their personal lives. Most often, to solve their epistemic aims (aims directed at achieving knowledge and understanding) regarding such socio-scientific issues, individuals search for information online, where there exists a multitude of possibly relevant and highly interconnected sources of different perspectives, sometimes providing conflicting information. The paper provides a review of the literature aimed at identifying (a) constraints and affordances that scientific knowledge and the online information environment entail and (b) individuals' cognitive and motivational processes that have been found to hinder, or conversely, support practices of engagement (such as critical information evaluation or two-sided dialogue). Doing this, a conceptual framework for understanding and fostering what we call online engagement with scientific information is introduced, which is conceived as consisting of individual engagement (engaging on one's own in the search, selection, evaluation, and integration of information) and dialogic engagement (engaging in discourse with others to interpret, articulate and critically examine scientific information). In turn, this paper identifies individual and contextual conditions for individuals' goal-directed and effortful online engagement with scientific information.
Given their lack of background knowledge, laypeople require expert help when dealing with scientific information. To decide whose help is dependable, laypeople must judge an expert's epistemic trustworthiness in terms of competence, adherence to scientific standards, and good intentions. Online, this may be difficult due to the often limited and sometimes unreliable source information available. To measure laypeople's evaluations of experts (encountered online), we constructed an inventory to assess epistemic trustworthiness on the dimensions expertise, integrity, and benevolence. Exploratory (n = 237) and confirmatory factor analyses (n = 345) showed that the Muenster Epistemic Trustworthiness Inventory (METI) is composed of these three factors. A subsequent experimental study (n = 137) showed that all three dimensions of the METI are sensitive to variation in source characteristics. We propose using this inventory to measure assignments of epistemic trustworthiness, that is, all judgments laypeople make when deciding whether to place epistemic trust in-and defer to-an expert in order to solve a scientific informational problem that is beyond their understanding.
This article analyzes the linguistic cues used by naïve perceivers to assess the expertise of online medical advice. We develop a theoretical framework of linguistic correlates to perceived expertise and test it on a corpus of 120 online medical advice messages, written by either medical doctors or laypersons. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) analyses show that messages were perceived as more expert if they contained more words (an indicator of uncertainty reduction), fewer I-pronouns and anxiety-related words (indicators of psychological distancing), and more long words and negations (indicators of cognitive complexity). These linguistic cues explained over a third of the variance in expertise ratings. Although unaware of the author of each message, perceivers were able to discern between messages written by doctors versus laypersons. However, only long words were helpful in making this distinction. Results advance the literature on linguistic correlates of psychological processes.
Executive summary
The purpose of this literature review is to provide an overview of research studies published from 2006 to 2010 in the English language on online health information-seeking behaviour by adults from the perspective of both the health consumer and the health professional.
Interest in the internet as a communication tool for health-related information is growing rapidly [1]. The profile of online health consumers can be broadly defined as patients, patients’ friends/relatives, and citizens in general [2]. Health information-seeking behaviour varies depending on type of information sought, reasons for, and experience of, searching [3]. Research shows that women are more likely than men to search for health information [4,5] and online health consumers tend to be more educated, earn more, and have high-speed internet access at home and at work [6,7]. Internet-based health information is accessed from a variety of sources, including websites run by organisations, homepages run by individuals, and online support groups where people actively exchange health information and blogs. As more people use the internet as a source of health information the issue of source credibility and trust in websites becomes important [8].
Research shows that health professionals’ use of the internet to obtain health and medical information has increased [9–11]. Furthermore, in a cross-sectional survey, 80% of physicians reported experience of patients presenting printed internet-sourced health information at visits [12]. Thus, the traditional doctor–patient relationship is being challenged.
The internet is a resource available to an increasing number of European citizens but, as with other information sources, differential access and use is apparent both within countries and between countries in the European Union. A lack of research in the European context means that the potential of the internet as a source of health information may not be fully understood. Nevertheless, the internet would appear to provide the ideal medium for the provision of information targeted at the prevention and control of communicable disease for both health consumers and health professionals in Europe.
The interdisciplinary intersections between communication science and health-related fields are pervasive, with numerous differences in regard to epistemology, career planning, funding perspectives, educational goals, and cultural orientations. This article identifies and elaborates on these challenges with illustrative examples. Furthermore, concrete suggestions for future scholarship are recommended to facilitate compatible, coherent, and interdisciplinary health communication inquiry. The authors hope that this article helps current and future generations of health communication scholars to make more informed decisions when facing some of the challenges discussed in this article so that they will be able to seize the interdisciplinary and international potential of this unique and important field of study.
The widespread prevalence and persistence of misinformation in contemporary societies, such as the false belief that there is a link between childhood vaccinations and autism, is a matter of public concern. For example, the myths surrounding vaccinations, which prompted some parents to withhold immunization from their children, have led to a marked increase in vaccine-preventable disease, as well as unnecessary public expenditure on research and public-information campaigns aimed at rectifying the situation.
We first examine the mechanisms by which such misinformation is disseminated in society, both inadvertently and purposely. Misinformation can originate from rumors but also from works of fiction, governments and politicians, and vested interests. Moreover, changes in the media landscape, including the arrival of the Internet, have fundamentally influenced the ways in which information is communicated and misinformation is spread.
We next move to misinformation at the level of the individual, and review the cognitive factors that often render misinformation resistant to correction. We consider how people assess the truth of statements and what makes people believe certain things but not others. We look at people’s memory for misinformation and answer the questions of why retractions of misinformation are so ineffective in memory updating and why efforts to retract misinformation can even backfire and, ironically, increase misbelief. Though ideology and personal worldviews can be major obstacles for debiasing, there nonetheless are a number of effective techniques for reducing the impact of misinformation, and we pay special attention to these factors that aid in debiasing.
We conclude by providing specific recommendations for the debunking of misinformation. These recommendations pertain to the ways in which corrections should be designed, structured, and applied in order to maximize their impact. Grounded in cognitive psychological theory, these recommendations may help practitioners—including journalists, health professionals, educators, and science communicators—design effective misinformation retractions, educational tools, and public-information campaigns.
Learning from texts requires reflection on how far one has mastered the material. Learners use such metacognitive processes to decide whether to engage in deeper learning activities or not. This article examines how the lexical surface of specialist concepts influences their mental representation. Lexical encodings that are the concise wordings of a concept (e.g., tension headache or migraine for specific types of headache) provide immediate access to the underlying content. To understand learning contents appropriately, learners have to work on such lexical covers to gain insight into the underlying semantic meaning. It was assumed that a technical term’s origin (either German or classical Latin/Greek) is used systematically as a hint for further elaboration. 41 college students rated the difficulty, familiarity, competence, accessibility, and their knowledge of 17 German-language (GL) terms and their classical language (CL) synonyms. The influence of word frequency was controlled. As expected, results showed that GL terms were perceived to be less difficult than CL terms. Consequently, comprehension of these terms was rated more highly. Analyses of how lexical encoding influenced accuracy of participants’ comprehension judgments showed that participants’ comprehension ratings were less accurate for GL terms. Theoretical and practical implications for learning from written information are discussed.
Online health information comes from a variety of online sources. Based on a typology of online sources, this research examines the direct and combined influences of original sources (doctors vs. laypersons) and selecting sources (Web sites vs. bulletin boards vs. blogs vs. personal home pages vs. Internet) on perceived credibility of—and behavioral intentions toward—health information. A large 2 (message) × 2 (original source) × 5 (selecting source) full-factorial online experiment revealed that respondents (N = 555) were more likely to take action based on the information sourced from a Web site than from a blog or a personal home page. The effect was mediated by perceived level of gatekeeping and perceived information completeness. The analysis also yielded a three-way interaction between message, original source, and selecting source on perceived credibility, suggesting the operation of an appropriateness heuristic when evaluating source combinations for less relevant health topics. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, leading to the proposal of a new online source typology.
This research examined the unique effects of different markers of linguistic powerlessness (hedges, hesitations, and tag questions) on persuasion. Participants read (Experiment 1) or listened to (Experiment 2) a communication advocating comprehensive exams. Under high message relevance, messages containing powerless markers resulted in less favorable attitudes and more negative perceptions of the message and source than did the control message. This effect occurred in both experiments and was a result of these markers lessening the impact of strong arguments; in Experiment 2, strong arguments were no more persuasive than weak arguments when the message contained any of these markers. Under low message relevance, tag questions improved the persuasiveness of message arguments relative to the control condition. These results demonstrate that the effects of linguistic markers of powerlessness are complex and depend on marker type and processing depth.
Health literacy concerns the knowledge and competences of persons to meet the complex demands of health in modern society. Although its importance is increasingly recognised, there is no consensus about the definition of health literacy or about its conceptual dimensions, which limits the possibilities for measurement and comparison. The aim of the study is to review definitions and models on health literacy to develop an integrated definition and conceptual model capturing the most comprehensive evidence-based dimensions of health literacy.
A systematic literature review was performed to identify definitions and conceptual frameworks of health literacy. A content analysis of the definitions and conceptual frameworks was carried out to identify the central dimensions of health literacy and develop an integrated model.
The review resulted in 17 definitions of health literacy and 12 conceptual models. Based on the content analysis, an integrative conceptual model was developed containing 12 dimensions referring to the knowledge, motivation and competencies of accessing, understanding, appraising and applying health-related information within the healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion setting, respectively.
Based upon this review, a model is proposed integrating medical and public health views of health literacy. The model can serve as a basis for developing health literacy enhancing interventions and provide a conceptual basis for the development and validation of measurement tools, capturing the different dimensions of health literacy within the healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion settings.
Do different design and information content factors
influence trust and mistrust of online health sites? Fifteen women faced with a risky health decision were observed while searching the Internet for information and advice over four consecutive weeks. In some sessions their searches were unstructured, whilst in other sessions they were directed to review specific sites, chosen for their trust design elements. Content analysis of concurrent
verbalisations and group discussion protocols provided
support for a staged model wherein design appeal predicted
rejection (mistrust) and credibility of information and
personalisation of content predicted selection (trust) of
advice sites.
European citizens are increasingly being offered Internet health services. This study investigated patterns of health-related Internet use, its consequences, and citizens' expectations about their doctors' provision of e-health services.
Representative samples were obtained from the general populations in Norway, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Latvia. The total sample consisted of 7934 respondents. Interviews were conducted by telephone.
44 % of the total sample, 71 % of the Internet users, had used the Internet for health purposes. Factors that positively affected the use of Internet for health purposes were youth, higher education, white-collar or no paid job, visits to the GP during the past year, long-term illness or disabilities, and a subjective assessment of one's own health as good. Women were the most active health users among those who were online. One in four of the respondents used the Internet to prepare for or follow up doctors' appointments. Feeling reassured after using the Internet for health purposes was twice as common as experiencing anxieties. When choosing a new doctor, more than a third of the sample rated the provision of e-health services as important.
The users of Internet health services differ from the general population when it comes to health and demographic variables. The most common way to use the Internet in health matters is to read information, second comes using the net to decide whether to see a doctor and to prepare for and follow up on doctors' appointments. Hence, health-related use of the Internet does affect patients' use of other health services, but it would appear to supplement rather than to replace other health services.
People may utilize various sources when searching for health information, including blogs. This study sought to describe the nature of non-personal journal health and medical blog posts and the frequency of interactive blog feature use within these blogs, as well as to understand the quality of content found within health and medical blogs as determined by blogger expertise and blog host. A quantitative content analysis was performed on 398 blog posts from a constructed 1-week sample of posts in WebMD, Yahoo!Health Expert Blogs, and independently hosted blogs. Results show most health and medical blog posts highlighted and provided commentary pertaining to medical issues found in external media such as books, television, Web sites, magazines, and newspapers, whereas only 16% contained actual health or medical information. In addition, distinct differences in patterns of content were evident between credentialed and noncredentialed bloggers, as well as different blog hosts.
To describe techniques for retrieval and appraisal used by consumers when they search for health information on the internet.
Qualitative study using focus groups, naturalistic observation of consumers searching the world wide web in a usability laboratory, and in-depth interviews.
A total of 21 users of the internet participated in three focus group sessions. 17 participants were given a series of health questions and observed in a usability laboratory setting while retrieving health information from the web; this was followed by in-depth interviews.
Heidelberg, Germany.
Although their search technique was often suboptimal, internet users successfully found health information to answer questions in an average of 5 minutes 42 seconds (median 4 minutes 18 seconds) per question. Participants in focus groups said that when assessing the credibility of a website they primarily looked for the source, a professional design, a scientific or official touch, language, and ease of use. However, in the observational study, no participants checked any "about us" sections of websites, disclaimers, or disclosure statements. In the post-search interviews, it emerged that very few participants had noticed and remembered which websites they had retrieved information from.
Further observational studies are needed to design and evaluate educational and technological innovations for guiding consumers to high quality health information on the web.
this paper is to understand how identity is established in an online community and to examine the effects of identity deception and the conditions that give rise to it. In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity. Though the self may be complex and mutable over time and circumstance, the body provides a stabilizing anchor. Said Sartre in Being and Nothingness, "I am my body to the extent that I am," The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter. Information spreads and diffuses; there is no law of the conservation of information. The inhabitants of this impalpable space are also diffuse, free from the body's unifying anchor. One can have, some claim, as many electronic personas as one has time and energy to create. "One can have...?" Who is this "one"? It is, of course, the embodied self, the body that is synonymous with identity, the body at the keyboard. The two worlds are not really disjoint. While it is true that a single person can create multiple electronic identities that are linked only by their common progenitor, that link, though invisible in the virtual world, is of great significance. What is the relationship among multiple personas sharing a single progenitor? Do virtual personas inherit the qualities -- and responsibilities -- of their creators? Such questions bring a fresh approach to ancient inquiries into the relationship between the self and the body -- and a fresh urgency. Online communities are growing rapidly and their participants face these questions, not as hypothetical thought experiments, but as basic issues in their daily existence. A man creates a female identity; a high school stud...
Language expectancy theory It appears that at least once every decade or so, there appears a renewed interest, as evidenced by public discussion and publication activity, in two recurring issues in the discipline of communication. The first focuses on the general health, or even the viability, of the study of Persuasion. Nearly a quarter of a century ago, Miller and M. Burgoon (1978) asked the question of whether or not a case could be made for Persuasion research. They claimed that while it would be hyPerbolic to state that the guns are silent on the Persuasive battleground, the roar of these guns has been sporadic and muted. They further added that traditional Persuasion research had been swimming against the ideological and scholarly currents of the past decade. They were writing at a time when Persuasion research, not only in the discipline of communication but also in allied social science disciplines, ...
We argue that the speaker designs each utterance for specific listeners, and they, in turn, make essential use of this fact in understanding that utterance. We call this property of utterances audience design. Often listeners can come to a unique interpretation for an utterance only if they assume that the speaker designed it just so that they could come to that interpretation uniquely. We illustrate reasoning from audience design in the understanding of definite reference, anaphora, and word meaning, and we offer evidence that listeners actually reason this way. We conclude that audience design must play a central role in any adequate theory of understanding.
Because modern societies are built on elaborate divisions of cognitive labor, individuals remain laypersons in most knowledge domains. Hence, they have to rely on others' expertise when deciding on many science-related issues in private and public life. Even children already locate and discern expertise in the minds of others (e.g., Danovitch & Keil, 2004). This study examines how far university students accurately judge experts' pertinence for science topics even when they lack proficient knowledge of the domain. Participants judged the pertinence of experts from diverse disciplines based on the experts' assumed contributions to texts adapted from original articles from Science and Nature. Subjective pertinence judgments were calibrated by comparing them with bibliometrics of the original articles. Furthermore, participants' general science knowledge was controlled. Results showed that participants made well-calibrated pertinence judgments regardless of their level of general science knowledge.
© 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.
This introduction to the special issue Understanding the Public Understanding of Science: Psychological Approaches discusses some of the challenges people face in understanding science. We focus on people's inevitably bounded understanding of science topics; research must address how people make decisions in science domains such as health and medicine without having the deep and extensive understanding that is characteristic of domain experts. The articles reflect two broad streams of research on the public understanding of science—the learning orientation that seeks to improve understanding through better instruction and the communications orientation that focuses on attitudes about science and trust in scientists. Challenges to understanding science include determining the relevance of information, the tentativeness of scientific truth, distinguishing between scientific and nonscientific issues, and determining what is true and what is false. Studying the public understanding of science can potentially contribute to psychological theories of thinking and reasoning in modern societies.
Personal epistemology is the study of beliefs associated with knowledge and knowing. A large body of theory and research in personal epistemology has been dedicated to college students, but rarely have the epistemic beliefs of children, adolescents, and their teachers been thoroughly examined. This book incorporates both theoretical and empirical work pertaining to personal epistemology as it specifically relates to learning and instruction. Bringing together leading research on pre-school through high school students' personal epistemology, it re-examines existing conceptual frameworks, introduces new models, provides an empirical foundation for learning and instruction, and considers broader educational implications. In addition, the contributors stress how personal epistemology issues in the classroom need to be more carefully investigated and understood.
The present research investigated whether laypeople are inclined to rely on their own evaluations of the acceptability of scientific claims despite their knowledge limitations. Specifically, we tested whether laypeople are more prone to discount their actual dependence on expert knowledge when they are presented with simplified science texts. In two experiments, participants read scientific arguments that varied in comprehensibility and type of argument support and therefore in apparent easiness. We assessed participants’ inclination to rely on their own evaluation rather than deferring to expert advice when judging argument persuasiveness. The results showed that laypeople were more strongly persuaded by apparently easy arguments than by difficult ones. Furthermore, they were more confident in their own evaluation of the information and less inclined to turn to an expert for decision-making support after reading easy compared to difficult arguments.
Scholars in various disciplines have considered the causes, nature, and effects of trust. Prior approaches to studying trust are considered, including characteristics of the trustor, the trustee, and the role of risk. A definition of trust and a model of its antecedents and outcomes are presented, which integrate research from multiple disciplines and differentiate trust from similar constructs. Several research propositions based on the model are presented.
This paper raises the question of the significance of information practices for individuals' management of personal health. In particular, it focuses on the notion of an 'informed patient'. The question of expertise is examined first through an analysis of the nature of information sought, the trust placed in information sources and the challenge to professional authority, and then in the light of the everyday dimension of information seeking that pervades all living interactions. Taking the case of online health information seekers, the paper is based on interviews conducted with Internet users, using the electronic medium for health information. Study findings reveal the everyday dimension of the information sought and the importance of 'experiential knowledge' over medical expertise. Rather than dismissing experts' authority, findings show how the mediated environment of the Internet favours a process of displacing and regaining trust in professionals. The paper argues that the use of the Internet by a lay public for health information reflects individuals' socio-cultural information contexts, drawing the contours of a responsible project of health by means of information. 'Informed patients' are negotiating agents whose health responsibility is both a matter of increasing knowledge about everyday experience as part of a reflexive project and a matter of locating this project within a broader informational environment.
Studies suggest that young children are quite limited in their knowledge about cognitive phenomena—or in their metacognition—and do relatively little monitoring of their own memory, comprehension, and other cognitive enterprises. Metacognitive knowledge is one's stored knowledge or beliefs about oneself and others as cognitive agents, about tasks, about actions or strategies, and about how all these interact to affect the outcomes of any sort of intellectual enterprise. Metacognitive experiences are conscious cognitive or affective experiences that occur during the enterprise and concern any aspect of it—often, how well it is going. Research is needed to describe and explain spontaneous developmental acquisitions in this area and find effective ways of teaching metacognitive knowledge and cognitive monitoring skills. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
After Perry’s (1969) pioneering work, research on the psychology of epistemic beliefs, that is, personal beliefs about knowledge
and knowing (Hofer & Pintrich, 2002), has flourished since the beginning of the 1990s. At least three major lines of investigation
can be identified in the literature, the first of which deals with the development of epistemic thinking. According to developmental
psychologists, it can be conceived as a cognitive structure comprising coherent and integrated representations, which characterize
a level or stage of cognitive development. This cognitive structure has been described in relation to the ways of knowing
(Belenky et al., 1986), epistemological reflection (Baxter Magolda, 1992), reflective judgment (King & Kitchener, 1994), relativistic
thinking (Chandler et al., 1990), and argumentative reasoning (Kuhn, 1991).
In this theoretical paper, I present a short critical review of research on calibration. Based on this conceptual analysis
I argue for two extensions of this construct: In addition to traditional applications, the methodology should be transferred
to also measure calibration between students’ metacognitive control processes (traditionally, only students’ metacognitive
judgments were considered) and important external criteria (traditionally, judgments were only compared to students’ own performance).
As an illustrative example, one application context will be highlighted where these proposed extensions would alleviate potential
problems with the traditional conceptualization: While students’ idiosyncratic task definitions constitute unwanted error
variance in the traditional account it would be possible to investigate them as a primary research question within this extended
notion. More specifically, it would be possible to investigate how well students’ learning processes match objective task
demands. I will put forward theoretical and empirical arguments in favor of these suggestions.
Subjects performed a two-stage referential communication task. First, they created referring expressions for abstract figures either for another student (Social condition) or for themselves (Nonsocial condition). Second, the same subjects tried to identify the intended referents of their own expressions and those of other subjects who encoded in the Social and Nonsocial conditions. Expressions intended for another student were longer, employed less diverse vocabularies, and were less likely to describe the stimuli figuratively than expressions intended for oneself. The intended addressee of a message also affected its comprehensibility to others: while all subjects identified the largest proportion of their own messages, they did significantly better with others' messages when they were intended for another student rather than for the encoder him- or herself. Both sets of findings are discussed within a common ground framework of communication.
Concerns about the potentially dubious nature of online information and users' ability to evaluate it appropriately prompted this research on college students' use of Web-based information, their perceptions of information credibility, and their online verification behaviors. Two studies were conducted to address these issues. Results of the first study show that college students rely very heavily on the Web for both general and academic information, and that they expect this usage to increase over time. Results of the second study indicate that students find information to be more credible than do those from a more general adult population, across several media and considering many different types of information. Nonetheless, students verify the information they find online significantly less. Implications are discussed in light of current efforts of educators to improve Internet literacy.
The credibility of web sites is becoming an increasingly important area to understand. To expand knowledge in this domain, we conducted an online study that investigated how different elements of Web sites affect people's perception of credibility. Over 1400 people participated in this study, both from the U.S. and Europe, evaluating 51 different Web site elements. The data showed which elements boost and which elements hurt perceptions of Web credibility. Through analysis we found these elements fell into one of seven factors. In order of impact, the five types of elements that increased credibility perceptions were “real-world feel”, “ease of use”, “expertise”, “trustworthiness”, and “tailoring”. The two types of elements that hurt credibility were “commercial implications&rdquo ;and “amateurism”. This large-scale study lays the groundwork for further research into the elements that affect Web credibility. The results also suggest implications for designing credible Web sites.
The growth of scientific and technological knowledge in modern societies has lead to an increase of specialization of knowledge and expertise. Most socio-scientific issues are far too complex to be understood deeply by laypersons. From various disciplines we have to choose pertinent ones if we want to rely on expert advice. Epistemological beliefs might be helpful to cope with this challenge. Furthermore it is necessary to have realistic awareness of one's own fragmentary understanding and to avoid the "illusion of explanatory depth" (Rosenblit & Keil, 2002). In order to research on adults' capability to choose between disciplines who might be relevant for a science topic, N = 520 secondary school students were asked to choose, which of 22 scientific disciplines (e.g. math, geology, biology) should contribute to a book about tide and float. They were also asked to assess their own knowledge about the theme. Influence of epistemological beliefs has been tested by an epistemological sensitization in an experimental design. The epistemological sensitization significantly influences students' self-assessment of knowledge and discipline rating. Students with sophisticated epistemological beliefs were more critical about their own knowledge about tide and flow, chose significantly pertinent and -by tendency-potential pertinent disciplines more and declined non-pertinent disciplines more.
If folk science means individuals having well worked out mechanistic theories of the workings of the world, then it is not feasible. Lay people's explanatory understandings are remarkably coarse, full of gaps and often full of inconsistencies. Even worse, most people underestimate their own understandings. Yet, recent views suggest that formal scientists may not be so different. In spite of these limitations, science somehow works and its success offers hope for the feasibility of folk science as well. The success of science arises from the ways in which scientists learn to leverage understandings in other minds and to outsource explanatory work through sophisticated methods of deference and simplification of complex systems. Three studies ask whether analogous processes might be present not only in lay people, but also in young children and thereby form a foundation for supplementing explanatory understandings almost from the start of our first attempts to make sense of the world.
The division of cognitive labor is fundamental to all cultures. Adults have a strong sense of how knowledge is clustered in the world around them and use that sense to access additional information, defer to relevant experts, and ground their own incomplete understandings. One prominent way of clustering knowledge is by disciplines similar to those that comprise the natural and social sciences. Seven studies explored an emerging sense of these discipline-based ways of clustering of knowledge. Even 5-year-olds could cluster knowledge in a manner roughly corresponding to the departments of natural and social sciences in a university, doing so without any explicit awareness of those academic disciplines. But this awareness is fragile early on and competes with other ways of clustering knowledge. Over the next few years, children come to see discipline-based clusters as having a privileged status, one that may be linked to increasingly sophisticated assumptions about essences for natural kinds. Possible mechanisms for this developmental shift are examined.
The paper has three main aims. First, to trace--through the pages of Sociology of Health and Illness--the changing ways in which lay understandings of health and illness have been represented during the 1979-2002 period. Second, to say something about the limits of lay knowledge (and particularly lay expertise) in matters of health and medicine. Third, to call for a re-assessment of what lay people can offer to a democratised and customer-sensitive system of health care and to attempt to draw a boundary around the domain of expertise. In following through on those aims, the author calls upon data derived from three current projects. These latter concern the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in people with Down's syndrome; the development of an outcome measure for people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury; and a study of why older people might reject annual influenza vaccinations.
This study examines the relationship of Internet health information use with patient behavior and self-efficacy among 498 newly diagnosed cancer patients. Subjects were classified by types of Internet use: direct use (used Internet health information themselves), indirect use (used information accessed by friends or family), and non-use (never accessing Internet information). Subjects were recruited from callers of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Cancer Information Service, Atlantic Region. They were classified by type of Internet use at enrollment and interviewed by telephone after 8 weeks. There were significant relationships among Internet use and key study variables: subject characteristics, patient task behavior, and self-efficacy. Subjects' Internet use changed significantly from enrollment to 8 week follow-up; 19% of nonusers and indirect users moved to a higher level of Internet use. Significant relationships also were found among Internet use and perceived patient-provider relationship, question asking, and treatment compliance. Finally, Internet use was also significantly associated with self-efficacy variables (confidence in actively participating in treatment decisions, asking physicians questions, and sharing feelings of concern). The results of this study show that patients who are newly diagnosed with cancer perceive the Internet as a powerful tool, both for acquiring information and for enhancing confidence to make informed decisions.
As more and more doctor-patient communication is happening online, it is important to know how doctors adapt to their patients' knowledge level and ensure that they make themselves understood in this medium. This article examined question-answer sets from health archives to see whether medical experts adapted their answers to the way laypersons verbalized their concerns. The authors analyzed word use and further stylistic variables in question-answer pairs to test 2 hypotheses: (a) the lexical entrainment hypothesis predicting that experts would entrain to patients' word use; and (b) the linguistic copresence hypothesis predicting that the more medical terminology used by the patient, the more demanding experts' answers would be. Results provided evidence that the patients' choice of words impacts the experts' answers. Practical implications are discussed for improving mutual understanding in online health advice.
NEO-PI-R -NEO Persönlichkeitsinventar nach Costa und McCrae -Revidierte Fassung (PSYNDEX Tests Review) [Costa and McCrae's revised NEO personality inventory
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Ostendorf, F., & Angleitner, A. (2004). NEO-PI-R -NEO
Persönlichkeitsinventar nach Costa und McCrae -Revidierte Fassung
(PSYNDEX Tests Review) [Costa and McCrae's revised NEO personality inventory].
Knowing when, where, and how to remember: A problem of metacognition
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Erlbaum.
Epistemic metacognition in the context of information searching on the web
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Fachbegriffe [Technical terms
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Quantitative Variables Experimental condition Medical credentials Nonmedical credentials Dependent variable Technical language Everyday language Technical language Everyday language Credibility (of health statements) Proportion of credible statements 021) Trust in the correctness of information 3
- B Appendix
- Descriptive
Appendix B
Descriptive Results of Quantitative Variables
Experimental condition
Medical credentials
Nonmedical credentials
Dependent variable
Technical language
Everyday language
Technical language
Everyday language
Credibility (of health statements)
Proportion of credible statements
0.70 (0.25)
0.71 (0.23)
0.52 (0.27)
0.64 (0.21)
Trust in the correctness of information
3.00 (0.63)
3.28 (0.71)
2.45 (0.65)
2.82 (0.69)
Comparative report of health literacy in eight EU member states. The European Health Literacy Survey HLS- EU. Retrieved from http://www.health-literacy Effects of online health sources on credibility and behavioral intentions