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Believing in Expertise: How Authors' Credentials and Language Use Influence the Credibility of Online Health Information
Health Communication
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.
... For example, marketing research has shown that credibility and trust in the source are important factors for clicking on advertisements [17,[27][28][29][30]. In relation to this, studies have suggested that web-based health information from an expert source is viewed as more experienced and credible [31,32]. These findings demonstrate that aspects of endorsement and credibility when creating and disseminating messages are important. ...
... Our findings contrast with previous research, which has shown that using behavioral messages, such as social norms [34,35] and patient endorsement [31,32] can be effective methods to engage with the public on the web. The negative effect we found can partially be explained by the reduced readability of the messages, as individuals in the social norms condition perceived the message to be more difficult to understand-and the aims of the study were less clear than those in the standard advertisement. ...
... This is due to 2 reasons. While previous studies have shown that proximal social norms are more effective in different contexts [30][31][32][33][34][35][36], it was not possible to use them in our experiment due to the lack of data supporting the claim at the time of the CLOCS recruitment [37] and the novelty of this case-control study. Additionally, the social norm message had to use a vague verbal quantifier, "many women," and focus on satisfaction with participation rather than the participation rate to ensure messages were ethical and not coercive. ...
Background
Social media is rapidly becoming the primary source to disseminate invitations to the public to consider taking part in research studies. There is, however, little information on how the contents of the advertisement can be communicated to facilitate engagement and subsequently promote intentions to participate in research.
Objective
This paper describes an experimental study that tested different behavioral messages for recruiting study participants for a real-life observational case-control study.
Methods
We included 1060 women in a web-based experiment and randomized them to 1 of 3 experimental conditions: standard advertisement (n=360), patient endorsement advertisement (n=345), and social norms advertisement (n=355). After seeing 1 of the 3 advertisements, participants were asked to state (1) their intention to take part in the advertised case-control study, (2) the ease of understanding the message and study aims, and (3) their willingness to be redirected to the website of the case-control study after completing the survey. Individuals were further asked to suggest ways to improve the messages. Intentions were compared between groups using ordinal logistic regression, reported in percentages, adjusted odds ratio (aOR), and 95% CIs.
Results
Those who were in the patient endorsement and social norms–based advertisement groups had significantly lower intentions to take part in the advertised study compared with those in the standard advertisement group (aOR 0.73, 95% CI 0.55-0.97; P=.03 and aOR 0.69, 95% CI 0.52-0.92; P=.009, respectively). The patient endorsement advertisement was perceived to be more difficult to understand (aOR 0.65, 95% CI 0.48-0.87; P=.004) and to communicate the study aims less clearly (aOR 0.72, 95% CI 0.55-0.95; P=.01). While the patient endorsement advertisement had no impact on intention to visit the main study website, the social norms advertisement decreased willingness compared with the standard advertisement group (157/355, 44.2% vs 191/360, 53.1%; aOR 0.74, 95% CI 0.54-0.99; P=.02). The majority of participants (395/609, 64.8%) stated that the messages did not require changes, but some preferred clearer (75/609, 12.3%) and shorter (59/609, 9.7%) messages.
Conclusions
The results of this study indicate that adding normative behavioral messages to simulated tweets decreased participant intention to take part in our web-based case-control study, as this made the tweet harder to understand. This suggests that simple messages should be used for participant recruitment through Twitter (subsequently rebranded X).
... 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.
... As a result, sponsors should be disclosed so that parents/guardians can evaluate the sponsor and determine if the corresponding information they are being presented with could be biased in a particular direction. Thon and Jucks (2017) noted that inclusion of an author's credentials is essential in ensuring the website authors have expertise in the area and that the information is credible. Since parents/guardians of children with CF are using Google, Bing, and Yahoo to find information on mental health care, it is important that the individuals creating the content list their credentials so that parents/guardians can make an informed decision on if the author is qualified to provide the information. ...
... Since parents/guardians of children with CF are using Google, Bing, and Yahoo to find information on mental health care, it is important that the individuals creating the content list their credentials so that parents/guardians can make an informed decision on if the author is qualified to provide the information. As suggested by Thon and Jucks (2017), if credentials are not included, the content on the website may not be deemed credible, as parents/guardians may not see the authors as having the expertise needed to speak on this area. Therefore, to ensure parents/guardians feel comfortable trusting the content they are reading and that they are only accessing content created by individuals competent in the area, author credentials should always be included. ...
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a lifelong illness that impacts the lungs and digestive system and often results in early death. Anxiety and depression are common amongst individuals with CF and their parents/guardians. While parent/guardian mental health has been shown to be impacted by their child’s CF diagnosis; most mental health supports and recommendations focus solely on people with the diagnosis and not their parents/guardians. The current study investigated the quality of online mental health information for parents/guardians of children with CF. Nineteen CF parent/guardians support-themed websites were coded using standardized criteria. Websites were evaluated for accountability, presentation, alignment with evidence-based practice, readability, and recommendations to seek professional support. Results indicated that very few sites focused on the mental health of parents/guardians of children with CF and the quality of information was generally poor. Most websites met less than half of the standardized criteria and were poorly aligned with evidence-based practice. Increased quantity and quality of mental health information available in accessible forms for this group is needed.
... The authority heuristic suggests that experts are perceived as more credible and trustworthy than ordinary people when evaluating sources [32][33][34][35][36][37]. The bias hypothesis in the HSM explains that due to heuristic cues, people view messages from authoritative and expert sources as more credible than messages from ordinary people. ...
... Political stories affect the intention to share a personal story via interpersonal and mediated communication moderated by the level of institutional trust. Following the authority heuristic, authority and expert sources are perceived as more credible [32], as their authority and expertise provide greater trust and reliability [33,34,37]. According to the HSM's bias hypothesis, people believe messages from experts more than ordinary people because they perceive them as more credible. ...
This study examines the effect of one of three sources of information: a politician (authority figure), a physician (expert), and an ordinary person (non-expert) who appeared in a personal story related to a controversial issue (COVID-19 vaccination) on Facebook, on the willingness to engage with it. Using a between-subjects experiment (N = 848) conducted among Israeli adults (18 and older), we found a higher likelihood of sharing the story in interpersonal conversations than in other types of communications, regardless of the source that appeared in the story. However, respondents with high levels of institutional trust preferred sharing a politician’s story, while conspiracy believers tended to comment on an ordinary person’s story. The findings of the different patterns of communication behavior among conspiracy believers and people with high trust in political institutes contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the spread of misinformation in the digital age and during times of crisis.
... 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.
... Asimismo, el segundo criterio orientado a credibilidad se ordena en base a 3 indicadores: uso de lenguaje técnico equilibrado, (20) verificando el uso adecuado de terminología médica; las fuentes externas verificadas (21) y la coherencia interna del contenido, es decir, consistente en la estructura del mensaje y sin contradicciones. (22) Para el análisis del segundo criterio, se establecieron la siguiente escala de puntajes para medir los indicadores presentados: Tabla 2. Indicadores para medir la credibilidad (23,24,25) Se presentan pocas fuentes confiables, con limitaciones en la actualidad o relevancia de las mismas. ...
Introduction: mastitis, a breastfeeding-related inflammatory condition, presents significant health challenges. YouTube is a popular platform for health information, but its content quality and credibility are inconsistent. Method: a qualitative content analysis was conducted on 51 YouTube videos about mastitis, selected by relevance, user engagement, and views. The analysis evaluated medical information, credibility, and discursive strategies, using predefined criteria such as technical language, source reliability, and narrative coherence. Results: of the 51 videos analyzed, 98 % addressed symptoms (e.g., pain and inflammation), 94 % included definitions, and 82 % discussed causes. Treatment strategies were present in 78 %, while only 63 % mentioned preventive measures. Emotional and sociocultural dimensions were overlooked in 86 % of videos. Institutional channels achieved higher credibility scores, averaging 3,8/5, while independent creators averaged 2,4/5. Educational and narrative-personal tones dominated, appearing in 39 % and 45 % of videos, respectively. However, 27 % contained commercial elements, potentially undermining credibility. Conclusions: YouTube shows potential for health education about mastitis but requires stricter content quality standards. Enhancing emotional and sociocultural content through collaboration between health organizations and digital creators could improve the reliability and impact of information shared.
... To cultivate this trust, consultants must convey their expertise and credibility effectively. Previous studies have shown that the perceived expertise of the author significantly influences the credibility of online health information (Thon & Jucks, 2017). Additionally, consumer decision-making processes are influenced by both utilitarian and hedonic attitudes, with consumers assessing the practical usefulness and experiential value of content (Voss et al., 2003;Childers et al., 2001). ...
This study examines the evolving dynamics of healthcare livestreaming on digital platforms, specifically focusing on its impact on audience engagement and the credibility of medical professionals. By integrating the Source Credibility Model (SCM) with observational learning and digital influence theories, this research provides a nuanced understanding of how real-time interactivity and cultural norms in Vietnam shape consumer trust and behavior in healthcare livestreams. Unlike traditional media, livestreaming offers a dynamic and personalized medium, allowing healthcare professionals to build credibility and engage with audiences more effectively. Using a sample of 249 respondents and employing structural equation modeling (SEM), our findings reveal that while utilitarian and hedonic values significantly influence consumer willingness to pay for premium healthcare services, the transient and interactive nature of livestreaming also redefines traditional credibility pathways. This research proposes a new model that connects these variables, providing empirical evidence of how digital platforms can enhance or diminish the perceived credibility of healthcare providers. The study’s significance lies in its contribution to digital health communication, offering a framework for healthcare professionals to leverage digital media effectively while acknowledging the role of cultural and social norms in influencing communication outcomes.
... is is in line with the observations of Sba and Rowley [26], who showed that the author's medical quali cations and authority, representing a level of expertise, played an important role for respondents in trusting medical content on the Internet. is is supported by a study by on and Jucks [27], who observed that people seeking medical knowledge on the Internet looked at references to infer the author's medical expertise and assess the reliability of the information. In our study, respondents also valued teacher recommendations more highly than friend recommendations. ...
Background: The Internet is becoming increasingly important in providing medical knowledge. Students facing such information-rich environment, may not pay adequate attention to appropriate use of information sources. Aim of the study:The study aimed to evaluate the use of Internet for obtaining medical information by high school students (HSS) and medical students (MS), especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.Material and methods:Two anonymous online surveys were distributed through social media among Polish HSS and MS. The questionnaires of 562 HSS and 332 MS, representing 12 medical universities, were analysed.Results:33,7% MS and 12,6% HSS use Internet to obtain medical knowledge several times a day. 63% of all students believe that the COVID-19 pandemic increased this frequency. To accomplish that, 76% MS and 61.6% HSS frequently use search engines. 61% MS and 30,4% HSS often use Wikipedia. News websites are often used by 58.7% HSS and 19,3% MS. Medical databases e.g. PubMed are usually used by 28% MS. Both MS and HSS rated the author's specialty overlapping with the issue as the most important factor affecting the reliability of medical information sources (4.14 and 5.51 points on a 0-5 scale, respectively). 62,4% MS believe medical studies have significantly changed their perception of the credibility of medical knowledge sources. 50% HSS and 42,5% MS, when encountering incorrect medical information, never take any action to clarify it. 87,4% MS and 70% HSS express the need for additional classes on COVID-19 in their school curriculum.Conclusions:The Internet is widely used by HSS and MS as a source of medical knowledge. It is important to emphasize the need to develop the ability to select reliable medical information among users of the virtual world. Students understand the need to evaluate the credibility of sources, however they often do not take any action when confronted with erroneous information.
... To effectively engage with a variety of online audiences, the local government, hospitals, and nonprofit organizations need to consider including appropriate written language within their digital content (i.e., Spanish, Creole, etc.). Thon and Jucks (2017) also found that the type of online language being used in health information plays an important role in building public trust. Online users consciously seek and accept health information that uses "everyday language, " that is close to their own cultural and community's backgrounds (Thon and Jucks, 2017, p. 834). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic initiated new and unprecedented challenges that required organizations to curate timely, accurate and engaging public health information to communicate to local communities during a health crisis. Guided by the social media typology, content analysis was used to analyze tweets from six organizations located in a predominantly Hispanic community responsible for managing the pandemic. Findings revealed that these organizations have actively used Twitter (now known as “X”) to inform local residents about COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic and guided them how to respond to this health crisis by providing content with health-related actions. The analysis indicated that redundant digital content without using the local language of the community did not help public health officials communicate effectively to their citizens, thereby increasing their level of engagement and eliciting behavior changes. We suggest that public organizations, government, and healthcare organizations within a minority community need adopt social media strategies that incorporate the local community's language in content generation to foster ongoing conversations, mobilize actions, and elicit behavioral changes within their local communities.
... The elements that represent expertise (such as reliable sources, figures) are thus legitimisation tools (Reyes 2011). Specialised language use can be such a tool too, as 'terms carry the specific knowledge that experts have but lay people do not (necessarily), and which knowledge can put experts in a dominant position, asymmetric relations with lay people, and make it easier to influence lay people (Falyuna 2017, 96); if only because, for example, readers make judgements about the communicator's reliability based on the use of specialised language (Hendriks and Kienhues 2019 based on Thon and Jucks 2017). The use of specialised language is … about the demarcation of boundaries and, in a sense, about control and power (over knowledge)' (Falyuna 2022, 56-7). ...
The study aims to explore how language elements of specialised and political communication are represented in parliamentary discourse. Within the ParlaMint corpus, we examine Hungarian parliamentary speeches between 2020 and 2022 on the ‘KATA’ (specific tax of small taxpayer businesses). The specialised terms, terms used in standard language, sentiment and attitude values are analysed. Results show that there is a significant difference in term use and the sentence sentiments between the different discourse participants (policy actors, opposition, governing party). There are only a few emotionless speeches, and no large differences in the proportion of terms and emotions are observed. The results can be relevant for studies on populist communication, the relationship between technocracy and democracy, and the methodological aspects of computer-assisted discourse analysis. The paper also outlines future orientations for research, including extended thematic analysis and investigation of contextual shifts in the actual meaning of terms within political discourse.
... This indicates a preference for content produced by well-known individuals knowledgeable about the subject matter. These statements reflect the study by Thon and Jucks (2016), which suggests that health information seekers consciously view credentials to conclude an author's medical expertise and judge the credibility of health information. ...
This research study explores the phenomenon of self-diagnosing behavior among young adults, shedding light on the factors, motivations, and ramifications associated with this emerging trend. A qualitative phenomenological research design gathered data from qualified participants aged 18-26 in the Philippines. The study investigates the factors driving self-diagnosis, sources of information predominantly used, methods for evaluating information credibility, and the impact on participants' health perceptions. The study identified key themes driving young adults to engage in self-diagnosing behavior, encompassing the concepts of convenience, biopsychosocial factors influencing health perception, and a reliance on personal experience and judgment. Young adults' predominant sources of information emerged through themes such as health information gathered from various social media platforms, search engines like Google, diverse medical websites, and personal networks. Evaluation of health information emerged as the sole theme for assessing the credibility and reliability of these sources. Young adults employ personal strategies for health management, reflecting their actions and behaviors associated with self-diagnosing. Emergent themes, including psychological effects and the influence of health information characterize the impact of self-diagnosing behavior on young adults' perception. Engaging in self-diagnosing, especially in the context of health conditions and well-being, is a significant and sensitive aspect of young adults' experiences. As revealed in this qualitative study, participants often resort to self-diagnosis during challenging situations, indicating a need for guidance and support.
... Source expertise is more important in establishing positive attitudes toward unfamiliar brands than familiar brands (Lim and Chung, 2014). In health communication, studies have also supported that the source expertise increases the credibility and persuasiveness of health messages (Eastin, 2001;Jung et al., 2018;Thon and Jucks, 2017). Consequently, concerning more positive receivers' engagements toward expert-generated videos, we propose the following hypothesis. ...
After the Covid-19 vaccination started, social media users created an enormous amount of content on the vaccines. Especially in the early stages of vaccination, people searched and watched YouTube videos sharing personal experiences after getting the vaccines (i.e., vaccine review videos), usually titled “I got the COVID-19 vaccine.” Few studies have examined the characteristics and impacts of vaccine review videos on viewers’ responses (e.g., likes, dislikes, comments). This study investigates the content of, and reactions to, the most-viewed Covid-19 vaccine review videos on YouTube, based on the social communication framework. A quantitative content analysis of 148 vaccine review videos revealed their unique characteristics, including source expertise, message valence, narration, and topics. Most of the videos had a positive tone, with some urging vaccination and showing pro-vaccine attitudes. Furthermore, source expertise and hybrid message types (messages conveyed in narrative and informative ways) were not significantly related to positive responses. Rather, non-expert videos received more positive responses. The findings concern the public opinions surrounding new vaccines, including related concerns and attitudes. Given the positive tone of the content, vaccine review content made by diverse groups can be encouraged by public health institutions regardless of the creators’ expertise.
... Representational quality means that information needs to be presented to the user in an explicable manner, easily understood and easily manipulated and that is concise and consistent Lederman et al. (2014) Language style Technical, tentative, every day, enthusiastic language styles and so on Thon and Jucks (2017) Social Features such as commenting, chatting, following, liking and live streaming which make it easy for users to search for and receive health information Song et al. (2021a, b), Treem and Leonardi (2013) Visual aesthetic How things look, feel, or sound, e.g. whether the site is professionally designed ...
Purpose
This study aims to address the growing importance of online health information (OHI) and the associated uncertainty. Although previous research has explored factors influencing the credibility of OHI, results have been inconsistent. Therefore, this study aims to identify the essential factors that influence the perceived credibility of OHI by conducting a meta-analysis of articles published from 2010 to 2022. The study also aims to examine the moderating effects of demographic characteristics, study design and the platforms where health information is located.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the Prominence-Interpretation Theory (PIT), a meta-analysis of 25 empirical studies was conducted to explore 12 factors related to information content and source, social interaction, individual and media affordance. Moderators such as age, education level, gender of participants, sample size, platforms and research design were also examined.
Findings
Results suggest that all factors, except social support, have significant effects on the credibility of OHI. Among them, argument quality had the strongest correlation with credibility and individual factors were also found to be relevant. Moderating effects indicate that social support was significantly moderated by age and education level. Different sample sizes may lead to variations in the role of social endorsement, while personal involvement was moderated by sample size, platform and study design.
Originality/value
This study enriches the application of PIT in the health domain and provides guidance for scholars to expand the scope of research on factors influencing OHI credibility.
... Scholars have identified that in addition to party cues, citizens also use heuristics drawn from other sources in a variety of policy areas (Case et al., 2021;Darmofal, 2005;Thon & Jucks, 2017). The role of experts and scientists in influencing attitudes towards policies should similarly serve as a reference point to which citizens refer when deciding whether or not to hold a referendum when deciding on a given policy issue. ...
Why do citizens support holding a referendum? In this article, we argue that citizens are instrumental by using heuristics and cues from parties, independent experts, and the population to decide whether to hold a referendum. We further expect that populist and non-populist citizens differ in how they respond to these cues. Using pre-registered survey experiments in Austria and Germany, we find that citizens' support depends mainly on their attitudes towards the respective policy and the opinion of their preferred party, while the views of experts and the public play only a subordinate role. Crucially, we find no systematic differences between populist and non-populist citizens, suggesting that even populists' support for holding a referendum depends mainly on instrumental rather than normative considerations. This study provides comprehensive insights into the causal mechanisms of support for direct democracy and their implications for liberal and representative democracy.
... However, our results show that, despite the relatively low presence of health care compared to those considered patients, they obtained the highest number of retweets and interest from Twitter users. Other studies have also found that when the author was a medical expert, people were more likely to believe the content they shared with web-based sources [33]. Moreover, previous studies have claimed that social media provide a unique opportunity for health care professionals to engage with the community, representing a potential opportunity for accelerating knowledge transmission [34]. ...
Background
Opioids are used for the treatment of refractory pain, but their inappropriate use has detrimental consequences for health. Understanding the current experiences and perceptions of patients in a spontaneous and colloquial environment regarding the key drugs involved in the opioid crisis is of utmost significance.
Objective
The study aims to analyze Twitter content related to opioids, with objectives including characterizing users participating in these conversations, identifying prevalent topics and gauging public perception, assessing opinions on drug efficacy and tolerability, and detecting discussions related to drug dispensing, prescription, or acquisition.
Methods
In this cross-sectional study, we gathered public tweets concerning major opioids posted in English or Spanish between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. A total of 256,218 tweets were collected. Approximately 27% (69,222/256,218) were excluded. Subsequently, 7000 tweets were subjected to manual analysis based on a codebook developed by the researchers. The remaining databases underwent analysis using machine learning classifiers. In the codebook, the type of user was the initial classification domain. We differentiated between patients, family members and friends, health care professionals, and institutions. Next, a distinction was made between medical and nonmedical content. If it was medical in nature, we classified it according to whether it referred to the drug’s efficacy or adverse effects. In nonmedical content tweets, we analyzed whether the content referred to management issues (eg, pharmacy dispensation, medical appointment prescriptions, commercial advertisements, or legal aspects) or the trivialization of the drug.
Results
Among the entire array of scrutinized pharmaceuticals, fentanyl emerged as the predominant subject, featuring in 27% (39,997/148,335 posts) of the tweets. Concerning user categorization, roughly 70% (101,259/148,335) were classified as patients. Nevertheless, tweets posted by health care professionals obtained the highest number of retweets (37/16,956, 0.2% of their posts received over 100 retweets). We found statistically significant differences in the distribution concerning efficacy and side effects among distinct drug categories (P<.001). Nearly 60% (84,401/148,335) of the posts were devoted to nonmedical subjects. Within this category, legal facets and recreational use surfaced as the most prevalent themes, while in the medical discourse, efficacy constituted the most frequent topic, with over 90% (45,621/48,777) of instances characterizing it as poor or null. The opioid with the greatest proportion of tweets concerning legal considerations was fentanyl. Furthermore, fentanyl was the drug most frequently offered for sale on Twitter, while methadone generated the most tweets about pharmacy delivery.
Conclusions
The opioid crisis is present on social media, where tweets discuss legal and recreational use. Opioid users are the most active participants, prioritizing medication efficacy over side effects. Surprisingly, health care professionals generate the most engagement, indicating their positive reception. Authorities must monitor web-based opioid discussions to detect illicit acquisitions and recreational use.
... Depending on the construct of interest (i.e., source, media, or message), scholars used other terms than believability as synonyms for credibility. For message credibility, for example, some authors described credibility as the degree of trust in the accuracy of some information (Thon & Jucks, 2017) or as a judgment of some content's veracity (Appelman & Sundar, 2016). Finally, some authors also defined credibility as a situational judgment that was not enduring (e.g., Go et al., 2016;Kim, 2015). ...
Although credibility has been a key concept in communication research for decades, there still is no consensus on its conceptualization and measurement. Indeed, scholars have criticized the lack of theory-driven approaches, conceptual inconsistencies between sub-constructs of credibility, and the problems of applying them to the contemporary media environment. This literature review of quantitative studies of credibility published between 1951 and 2018 explores state-of-the-art definitions and measures of credibility (N = 259). While most studies make a conceptual distinction between source, media, and message credibility, measurement scales do not follow this traditional trinity. Instead, we propose moving toward a dual-credibility model.
... 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.
... 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.
... Future research could also investigate whether a more strongly expressed scientific discourse style (Thomm/Bromme 2012) influences the effects of the expressed motive to advocate (vs. to inform) on trustworthiness. This could be done by combining different indicators of scientific discourse features, such as using technical language (Thon/Jucks 2017, Zimmermann/Jucks 2018, referencing different sources of information (Thiebach/Mayweg-Paus/Jucks 2015), or applying a generally self-critical style of communication (Jensen 2008). ...
A central aspect of scientific knowledge is scientific uncertainty. When scientists touch upon political issues, there are two contrary expectations: One is that scientists communicate in a straightforward manner and give a direct, concrete suggestion. The other is that they communicate in a way that carefully considers the pros and cons as well as the current state of (non-) knowledge. This 2x2 experimental study investigated how disclosing scientific uncertainty affects the perceived trustworthiness of a scientist when they express either their motive to inform or their motive to advocate. All participants (N = 503) read an interview with a scientist about the usefulness of further vaccinations against COVID-19. In the interview, uncertainty was explicitly addressed (vs. not). Furthermore, the scientist either disclosed their motive to advocate or their motive to merely inform about research results. Results showed that the scientist was perceived as more trustworthy (i. e., having more expertise, integrity, and benevolence) when they communicated uncertainty than when they did not. However, contrary to our expectations, the effect of the scientist’s expressed motive to advocate (vs. to inform) on trustworthiness did not depend on whether uncertainty was explicitly addressed or not.
... 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.
Who is perceived to be an expert on COVID-19 vaccination on social media? We conducted four experimental studies investigating how the presence of biomedical credentials in social media profiles impacts users’ perceived expertise. Participants 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. In some cases, participants who were less vaccine-hesitant, had been vaccinated, and identified as more liberal were generally more influenced by the presence of credentials when judging COVID-19 vaccination expertise; however, credentials still had a significant and large effect regardless of vaccination status and attitude or political partisanship, and was much larger than the effect of any moderators. These findings support existing observations that biomedical credentials may be leveraged by both pro – and anti-vaccine communities to increase perceived credibility and message reach, and counter the narrative that conservatives and those with anti-vaccination attitudes do not recognize biomedical credentials as conferring expertise.
Wissenschaftsdidaktik ist nicht auf ein grundständiges wissenschaftliches Studium beschränkt. Vielmehr befasst sie sich auch mit der Vermittlung und Kommunikation von Wissenschaft in außerhochschulischen Feldern, wendet sich an unterschiedliche Zielgruppen und erfüllt verschiedene gesellschaftliche Funktionen. Damit berührt die Wissenschaftsdidaktik Fragestellungen, die auch in den Forschungsfeldern der Wissenschaftskommunikation oder des Wissenstransfers behandelt werden. Die Beitragenden des Bandes widmen sich der Vermittlung von und Kommunikation über Wissenschaft in unterschiedlichen Anwendungsfeldern und leuchten disziplinäre Nachbarschaften der Wissenschaftsdidaktik aus.
PURPOSE This study aimed to verify the differences in anticipated regret and gambling discontinuance intent based on the fear appeal type and source similarity in different types of horse-racing gamblers. METHODS Using convenience sampling, 172 responses were collected from horse-racing participants who bought horseracing tickets within the last 6 months. After eliminating 30 insincere responses, descriptive, correlation, reliability, and two-way multivariate covariance analyses were conducted using SPSS Ver. 26.0. RESULTS Anticipated regret and discontinuance intent were higher under fear appeal using social compared with financial risk. Compared to recreational gamblers, problem gamblers had higher anticipated regret and discontinuance intent under fear appeal using social compared with financial risk. There were no differential impacts of source similarity on anticipated regret and discontinuance intent in both types of gambler. CONCLUSIONS Practitioners in charge of conducting messaging campaign to prevent addiction to horse-racing gambling may cause problem gamblers to expect regret and quit gambling by delivering preventive messages with relatively unfamiliar risks such as social risks, rather than familiar risks such as financial ones.
Objectives
Pain education has been shown to reduce pain and disability in people with persistent pain by increasing their understanding of ‘how pain works’. There are many resources that people can engage with to help them learn about pain. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the resources with which people with persistent pain engage, to learn about pain. Secondary aims included investigating the helpfulness of those resources, whether people assess the quality of the resources with which they engage and whether the resources sought differed according to whether or not they had a diagnosis for their pain.
Design
Cross-sectional descriptive study.
Setting
Online and paper-based surveys.
Methods
People with persistent pain were recruited through advertising on social media and through local university health clinics. Participants completed a survey providing details about their pain condition, the resources with which they engaged to learn about pain, how useful they found these resources and whether they assessed the quality of the resources used.
Results
Data were collected from 127 online surveys (80% female; age [± SD] was 41 [±16] years). Healthcare professionals were the most common resource with which participants engaged (85.0%), followed by the Internet (68.5%) and scientific articles (52.8%). Books and scientific articles had the highest helpfulness rating; healthcare professionals and pamphlets had the lowest. Most respondents (85.3%) reported assessing the quality of the resources they engaged with.
Conclusion
Despite being the most common resource participants engaged with, healthcare professionals were awarded some of the lowest helpfulness ratings. Care needs to be taken to ensure that people with persistent pain are directed towards learning resources that can provide helpful, relevant and evidence-based information.
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 publications 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 the society.
The study reported in this chapter integrates the theory of communication and uncertainty management (TCUM) with the notion of transformational leadership (TFL) to examine how the uncertainty over the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies affects employees. Drawing on TCUM’s tenets, it is posited that TFL leaders need context-relevant expertise to effectively inspire and motivate their followers. Structural equation modeling analyses with the data collected in Japan (N = 1,318 employee–supervisor dyads) have revealed that uncertainty is negatively associated and TFL is positively associated with employees’ job performance. Consistent with TCUM’s proposition, the digital literacy of leaders is found to moderate the effects of TFL. Specifically, the positive association between TFL and job performance has disappeared when the employees simultaneously sense high uncertainty and low digital literacy of their supervisors. Implications of these findings are discussed with reference to the relevant literature. The current study provides empirical evidence on an important boundary condition of TFL effectiveness in the context of AI-driven digital transformation. Organizations should recognize and work on the imperative to develop talents with both robust leadership and digital skills to successfully drive DX.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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
- F Ostendorf
- A Angleitner
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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of information searching on the web. In M. S. Khine (Ed.), Knowing,
knowledge and beliefs: Epistemological studies across diverse cultures
(pp. 377-404). New York, NY: Springer.
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
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eight EU member states. The European Health Literacy Survey HLS-
EU. Retrieved from http://www.health-literacy.eu
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credibility and behavioral intentions. Communication Research, 37,
105–132. doi:10.1177/0093650209351512
Medical language in everyday language before the slash and in technical language after the slash. Note that English does not always have an equivalent for the German everyday expression
- Note
Note. Medical language in everyday language before the slash and in technical language after the slash. Note that English does not always have an equivalent for the
German everyday expression.
The persuasion handbook: Developments in theory and practice
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Developments in theory and practice (pp. 117-136). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.