McCrea Sean M, Helm Matthew R, Thürmer J Lukas, Erion C J, Bailey Ashlyn, Krueger Kem
Department of Psychology, University of Wyoming.
Department of Psychology, Paris-Lodron University Salzburg.
Health Commun. 2025 Jul;40(8):1479-1488. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2024.2406109. Epub 2024 Sep 26.
Compared to other medical experts, public health officials face added scrutiny of their pro-vaccine messages due to distrust of the US federal government. We consider reactions to such critical messages through the lens of conversational norms. Conversational pragmatics suggest that polite communication is essentially cooperative in nature, avoiding criticism of the other or excessive praise of the self. Applied to intergroup communication, this suggests that critical messages from outgroups will be viewed as impolite. Distrusted outgroup sources (such as government officials) are particularly expected to be uncooperative and impolite, increasing message rejection. Importantly, this perspective suggests that apologizing for the norm violation should mitigate these effects. Applying this reasoning to scientific messaging, we demonstrate that a message critical of the under-vaccinated is more likely to be rejected if made by a US federal public health official than by a private medical expert. However, this effect is reduced if the public health official apologizes in advance for violating the norm against criticizing other groups. Improved perceptions of the apologizing source's motives and reduced message threat were associated with higher vaccination intentions. Practical and theoretical implications for intergroup communication are discussed.
与其他医学专家相比，由于对美国联邦政府的不信任，公共卫生官员在传达支持疫苗接种的信息时面临更多审视。我们从会话规范的角度来考量对这类关键信息的反应。会话语用学表明，礼貌交流本质上具有合作性，避免批评他人或过度自我表扬。应用于群体间交流时，这意味着来自外群体的批评性信息会被视为不礼貌。人们尤其预期受不信任的外群体来源（如政府官员）不合作且不礼貌，从而增加信息被拒斥的可能性。重要的是，这一观点表明，为违反规范而道歉应能减轻这些影响。将这一推理应用于科学信息传播，我们证明，由美国联邦公共卫生官员传达的对疫苗接种率低的批评信息，比由私人医学专家传达时更有可能被拒斥。然而，如果公共卫生官员提前为违反不批评其他群体的规范而道歉，这种影响就会减弱。对道歉者动机的认知改善以及信息威胁的降低与更高的疫苗接种意愿相关。本文讨论了群体间交流的实践和理论意义。
