Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota.
Health Commun. 2024 Nov;39(13):3480-3492. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2024.2328455. Epub 2024 Mar 21.
The proliferation of health misinformation poses a significant threat to public health, making it increasingly important to understand why misinformation is accepted. The illusory truth effect, which refers to the increased believability of a message due to repeated exposure, has been widely studied. However, there is limited research on this effect in the context of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. This paper aims to examine the role of perceived familiarity with COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on various message perceptions, including perceived accuracy, agreement, perceived message effectiveness, and determinants of vaccination, including vaccine attitude and vaccination intention. Furthermore, it explores the impact of misinformation evidence (statistical vs. narrative) on the magnitude of the effects of perceived familiarity. To investigate these factors, a between-subjects experimental study was conducted, employing a 2 (Familiarity: strong vs. weak) × 3 (Evidence type: statistical, narrative, and both evidence) + 1 (Control: a message about drinking water) design. The results revealed that perceived familiarity with COVID-19 vaccine misinformation significantly predicted perceived accuracy, which was found to be negatively correlated with vaccine attitudes and vaccination intentions. Moreover, statistical evidence presented in misinformation was perceived as more persuasive in perceived message effectiveness, compared to narrative and mixed evidence. Interestingly, the effects of perceived familiarity were not contingent on the type of evidence used in COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. These findings emphasize the importance of avoiding the repetition of misinformation, reducing the processing fluency associated with misinformation correction, and educating individuals on how to critically evaluate statistical evidence when encountering (mis)information.
健康错误信息的泛滥对公众健康构成了重大威胁，因此越来越有必要了解为什么人们会接受错误信息。虚幻真实效应是指由于重复接触而增加对信息的可信度，该效应已得到广泛研究。然而，在 COVID-19 疫苗错误信息方面，对该效应的研究有限。本文旨在研究对 COVID-19 疫苗错误信息的熟悉程度对各种信息感知的作用，包括感知准确性、一致性、感知信息有效性以及疫苗接种的决定因素，包括疫苗态度和疫苗接种意愿。此外，还探讨了错误信息证据（统计数据与叙述）对感知熟悉程度影响的大小。为了研究这些因素，进行了一项基于被试的实验研究，采用 2（熟悉度：强 vs. 弱）×3（证据类型：统计、叙述和两种证据）+1（控制：关于饮用水的信息）设计。结果表明，对 COVID-19 疫苗错误信息的熟悉程度显著预测了感知准确性，而感知准确性与疫苗态度和疫苗接种意愿呈负相关。此外，与叙述和混合证据相比，错误信息中的统计证据在感知信息有效性方面被认为更有说服力。有趣的是，感知熟悉程度的影响不依赖于 COVID-19 疫苗错误信息中使用的证据类型。这些发现强调了避免重复错误信息、减少与错误信息纠正相关的处理流畅性以及教育个人如何批判性地评估统计证据的重要性，当遇到（错误）信息时。
