Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong.
Health Commun. 2022 Oct;37(11):1368-1377. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2021.1888452. Epub 2021 Feb 18.
Misinformation on social media pertaining to COVID-19 poses a great threat to public health. The active correction of misinformation by social media users and an understanding of the drivers of such behavior can help solve this ongoing issue. Drawing on the influence of presumed influence model and cognitive appraisal theory, an online experiment ( = 400) was conducted to examine how exposure to corrective messages with regard to COVID-19 misinformation induced individuals' threat appraisals of the influence of the misinformation on others and how these threat appraisals and the corresponding emotional responses motivated individuals to take corrective actions. The results suggested that people's perceptions of the severity of the influence of misinformation on others engendered anticipated guilt, which, in turn, strengthened their intentions to correct misinformation related to COVID-19. The study offers guidance on how to effectively craft a corrective message to encourage audiences to counter misinformation together.
社交媒体上有关 COVID-19 的错误信息对公众健康构成了巨大威胁。社交媒体用户积极纠正错误信息,并了解此类行为的驱动因素,有助于解决这一持续存在的问题。本研究以假定影响模型和认知评估理论为基础,进行了一项在线实验(n = 400),以检验个体接触有关 COVID-19 错误信息的纠正信息后,如何对错误信息对他人影响的威胁进行评估,以及这些威胁评估和相应的情绪反应如何促使个体采取纠正措施。结果表明,人们对错误信息对他人影响的严重程度的感知会产生预期的内疚感,而这种内疚感又会增强他们纠正与 COVID-19 相关错误信息的意愿。本研究为如何有效地撰写纠正信息提供了指导,以鼓励受众共同对抗错误信息。