How Media Reports on COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Impact Consensus Beliefs and Protective Action: A Randomized Controlled Online Trial

This study examines the influence of news coverage on coronavirus disease (COVID)-related conspiracy theories on consensus perceptions regarding the seriousness of COVID-19 and its impact on attitudes and behaviors. In an online experiment, 395 participants either watched a report containing conspir...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Logemann, Hannah Timna, Tomczyk, Samuel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2022
Materias:
Research Articles
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9755041/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10755470221143087
_version_ 1784851340298551296
author Logemann, Hannah Timna
Tomczyk, Samuel
author_facet Logemann, Hannah Timna
Tomczyk, Samuel
author_sort Logemann, Hannah Timna
collection PubMed
description This study examines the influence of news coverage on coronavirus disease (COVID)-related conspiracy theories on consensus perceptions regarding the seriousness of COVID-19 and its impact on attitudes and behaviors. In an online experiment, 395 participants either watched a report containing conspiracy theories, scientific facts, or information about a political summit, and they subsequently completed a questionnaire. Viewing reports on conspiracy theories lead to higher assessments of consensus compared with other reports. Perceived consensus correlated positively with attitudes toward COVID, which further correlated positively with behavior. The study shows that news reports can bias assessments of consensus, which has implications for public communication.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9755041
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher SAGE Publications
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-97550412022-12-16 How Media Reports on COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Impact Consensus Beliefs and Protective Action: A Randomized Controlled Online Trial Logemann, Hannah Timna Tomczyk, Samuel Sci Commun Research Articles This study examines the influence of news coverage on coronavirus disease (COVID)-related conspiracy theories on consensus perceptions regarding the seriousness of COVID-19 and its impact on attitudes and behaviors. In an online experiment, 395 participants either watched a report containing conspiracy theories, scientific facts, or information about a political summit, and they subsequently completed a questionnaire. Viewing reports on conspiracy theories lead to higher assessments of consensus compared with other reports. Perceived consensus correlated positively with attitudes toward COVID, which further correlated positively with behavior. The study shows that news reports can bias assessments of consensus, which has implications for public communication. SAGE Publications 2022-12-14 2023-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9755041/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10755470221143087 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Research Articles
Logemann, Hannah Timna
Tomczyk, Samuel
How Media Reports on COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Impact Consensus Beliefs and Protective Action: A Randomized Controlled Online Trial
title How Media Reports on COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Impact Consensus Beliefs and Protective Action: A Randomized Controlled Online Trial
title_full How Media Reports on COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Impact Consensus Beliefs and Protective Action: A Randomized Controlled Online Trial
title_fullStr How Media Reports on COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Impact Consensus Beliefs and Protective Action: A Randomized Controlled Online Trial
title_full_unstemmed How Media Reports on COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Impact Consensus Beliefs and Protective Action: A Randomized Controlled Online Trial
title_short How Media Reports on COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Impact Consensus Beliefs and Protective Action: A Randomized Controlled Online Trial
title_sort how media reports on covid-19 conspiracy theories impact consensus beliefs and protective action: a randomized controlled online trial
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9755041/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10755470221143087
work_keys_str_mv AT logemannhannahtimna howmediareportsoncovid19conspiracytheoriesimpactconsensusbeliefsandprotectiveactionarandomizedcontrolledonlinetrial
AT tomczyksamuel howmediareportsoncovid19conspiracytheoriesimpactconsensusbeliefsandprotectiveactionarandomizedcontrolledonlinetrial

Ejemplares similares