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Actual and Perceived Knowledge About COVID-19: The Role of Information Behavior in Media

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a health threat that has dominated media coverage. However, not much is known about individual media use to acquire knowledge about COVID-19. To address this open research question, this study investigated how the perceived threat is linked to media use and how media use...

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Autores principales: Granderath, Julia S., Sondermann, Christina, Martin, Andreas, Merkt, Martin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8714891/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34975667
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.778886
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author Granderath, Julia S.
Sondermann, Christina
Martin, Andreas
Merkt, Martin
author_facet Granderath, Julia S.
Sondermann, Christina
Martin, Andreas
Merkt, Martin
author_sort Granderath, Julia S.
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic poses a health threat that has dominated media coverage. However, not much is known about individual media use to acquire knowledge about COVID-19. To address this open research question, this study investigated how the perceived threat is linked to media use and how media use is associated with perceived and actual knowledge about COVID-19. In a German online survey conducted between April 16 and April 27, 2020, N = 952 participants provided information on their perceived threat and media use to inform themselves about COVID-19. In this process, they indicated how well they were informed about COVID-19 (perceived knowledge) and subsequently completed a COVID-19 knowledge test (actual knowledge). Results indicated that individuals who felt more threatened by COVID-19 used media more often to inform themselves (b = 0.20, p < 0.001) but focused on fewer different media channels (b = 0.01, p < 0.001). Further, frequent media use was associated with higher perceived knowledge (b = 0.47, p < 0.001), but not with higher actual knowledge about COVID-19 (b = −0.01, p = 0.938), reflecting an illusion of knowledge. Additionally, using fewer media channels was linked to higher perceived (b = 2.21, p < 0.001) and actual knowledge (b = 2.08, p = 0.008). Finally, explorative analyses on the use of different media channels revealed that an illusion of knowledge emerged for using social media, public television, and newspapers. Potential explanations for the findings and implications for future research are discussed.
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spelling pubmed-87148912021-12-30 Actual and Perceived Knowledge About COVID-19: The Role of Information Behavior in Media Granderath, Julia S. Sondermann, Christina Martin, Andreas Merkt, Martin Front Psychol Psychology The COVID-19 pandemic poses a health threat that has dominated media coverage. However, not much is known about individual media use to acquire knowledge about COVID-19. To address this open research question, this study investigated how the perceived threat is linked to media use and how media use is associated with perceived and actual knowledge about COVID-19. In a German online survey conducted between April 16 and April 27, 2020, N = 952 participants provided information on their perceived threat and media use to inform themselves about COVID-19. In this process, they indicated how well they were informed about COVID-19 (perceived knowledge) and subsequently completed a COVID-19 knowledge test (actual knowledge). Results indicated that individuals who felt more threatened by COVID-19 used media more often to inform themselves (b = 0.20, p < 0.001) but focused on fewer different media channels (b = 0.01, p < 0.001). Further, frequent media use was associated with higher perceived knowledge (b = 0.47, p < 0.001), but not with higher actual knowledge about COVID-19 (b = −0.01, p = 0.938), reflecting an illusion of knowledge. Additionally, using fewer media channels was linked to higher perceived (b = 2.21, p < 0.001) and actual knowledge (b = 2.08, p = 0.008). Finally, explorative analyses on the use of different media channels revealed that an illusion of knowledge emerged for using social media, public television, and newspapers. Potential explanations for the findings and implications for future research are discussed. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-15 /pmc/articles/PMC8714891/ /pubmed/34975667 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.778886 Text en Copyright © 2021 Granderath, Sondermann, Martin and Merkt. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Granderath, Julia S.
Sondermann, Christina
Martin, Andreas
Merkt, Martin
Actual and Perceived Knowledge About COVID-19: The Role of Information Behavior in Media
title Actual and Perceived Knowledge About COVID-19: The Role of Information Behavior in Media
title_full Actual and Perceived Knowledge About COVID-19: The Role of Information Behavior in Media
title_fullStr Actual and Perceived Knowledge About COVID-19: The Role of Information Behavior in Media
title_full_unstemmed Actual and Perceived Knowledge About COVID-19: The Role of Information Behavior in Media
title_short Actual and Perceived Knowledge About COVID-19: The Role of Information Behavior in Media
title_sort actual and perceived knowledge about covid-19: the role of information behavior in media
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8714891/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34975667
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.778886
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