Tian Xiang
School of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
Front Psychol. 2024 Oct 16;15:1418504. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1418504. eCollection 2024.
Misinformation spreading on social media often parallels public crises, such as the outbreak of COVID-19, because people's behaviors regarding misinformation may be influenced by their typical life circumstances. With the increasing severity of living conditions, misinformation is believed to spread more widely, while corrective behaviors tend to decrease. Furthermore, social comparison also affects the perception of life circumstances and subsequent behaviors. Taking Shanghai's COVID-19 lockdown as an example, this study examined whether two representative factors-the duration of the lockdown and the satisfaction with relief measures-affected people's tendency to share and correct misinformation. By employing the third-person effect (TPE) theory, the underlying mechanisms of social comparison were also explored.
An online survey was conducted in April 2022, when the Zero-COVID policy was implemented in Shanghai. In addition to questions about life circumstances, a third-person perception scale, a behaviors of sharing misinformation scale, and a behaviors of correcting misinformation scale were included in the survey. Finally, 7,962 valid responses were collected.
It was found that both behaviors-sharing and correcting misinformation-were affected by life circumstances but in different ways. The evidence also supported the existence of third-person perception (TPP). It was observed that the relationship between satisfaction with relief measures and sharing behavior was mediated by Third-Person Perception.
This study reveals that the proliferation of misinformation during crises is related to the deterioration of people's perception of life circumstances. Social comparison often plays a significant role, as was reflected by the TPE.
社交媒体上错误信息的传播往往与公共危机同时出现，比如新冠疫情的爆发，因为人们对待错误信息的行为可能会受到其日常生活状况的影响。随着生活条件的日益严峻，错误信息被认为会传播得更广，而纠正行为则会减少。此外，社会比较也会影响对生活状况的认知以及随后的行为。以上海新冠疫情封控为例，本研究考察了两个具有代表性的因素——封控时长和对救济措施的满意度——是否会影响人们分享和纠正错误信息的倾向。通过运用第三人效果（TPE）理论，还探究了社会比较的潜在机制。
于2022年4月开展了一项在线调查，当时上海正在实施动态清零政策。除了有关生活状况的问题外，调查中还包括一个第三人感知量表、一个分享错误信息行为量表和一个纠正错误信息行为量表。最终，收集到了7962份有效回复。
研究发现，分享和纠正错误信息这两种行为都受到生活状况的影响，但方式不同。证据也支持第三人感知（TPP）的存在。研究观察到，对救济措施的满意度与分享行为之间的关系是由第三人感知介导的。
本研究表明，危机期间错误信息的扩散与人们对生活状况认知的恶化有关。社会比较往往发挥着重要作用，第三人效果就体现了这一点。
