Department of Communication, University of California, Davis, California, USA.
Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, California, USA.
J Health Commun. 2021 Jul 3;26(7):460-472. doi: 10.1080/10810730.2021.1950239. Epub 2021 Jul 25.
Guided by Uncertainty Management Theory, UMT, we tested a model that explicates how uncertainty arising from contradictory health information is managed through information seeking. In an online experiment, 763 U.S. adults were randomly assigned to one of three message conditions: contradictory, non-contradictory, or control. Participants in the contradictory and non-contradictory conditions answered questions about their perceptions of contradiction, issue and decision uncertainty, negative appraisals and emotions, and information-seeking intentions. They also completed measures of several moderator variables, including information overload, intolerance for uncertainty, and health self-efficacy. Baseline levels of issue and decision uncertainty were measured in the control condition. Model tenets were confirmed: perceptions of contradiction led to issue uncertainty which, in turn, prompted cognitive appraisals directly, and indirectly through increased decision uncertainty. The effects of issue and decision uncertainty on information-seeking intentions were mediated by negative appraisals and threat emotions. Individuals with high health self-efficacy and positive outcome expectations of information search were more likely to manage uncertainty through information seeking. These results support the use of the CHIP model when perceptions of contradiction and decision uncertainty need to be accounted for, while also validating UMT for its original purposes. Model refinements and implications are discussed.
在不确定性管理理论（Uncertainty Management Theory，UMT）的指导下，我们测试了一个模型，该模型阐明了如何通过信息寻求来管理源自矛盾健康信息的不确定性。在一项在线实验中，763 名美国成年人被随机分配到以下三种信息条件之一：矛盾、非矛盾或控制。矛盾和非矛盾条件下的参与者回答了关于他们对矛盾、问题和决策不确定性、负面评价和情绪以及信息寻求意图的看法的问题。他们还完成了几个调节变量的测量，包括信息过载、不确定性容忍度和健康自我效能。在控制条件下测量了问题和决策不确定性的基线水平。模型原则得到了确认：对矛盾的看法导致了问题不确定性，而问题不确定性又直接导致认知评价，通过增加决策不确定性间接地导致认知评价。负面评价和威胁情绪在信息寻求意图对信息寻求意图的影响中起中介作用。对信息搜索有较高健康自我效能感和积极结果预期的个体更有可能通过信息寻求来管理不确定性。这些结果支持在需要考虑矛盾和决策不确定性的情况下使用 CHIP 模型，同时也验证了 UMT 的原始用途。讨论了模型的改进和启示。
