The Interplay of Jargon, Motivation, and Fatigue While Processing COVID-19 Crisis Communication Over Time

Using the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this three-wave experiment ( N = 1,830) examined whether a public health crisis motivates people to engage with complicated information about the virus in the form of jargon. Results revealed that although the presence of jargon negatively impacted message acceptance for topics that were not particularly urgent (flood risk and federal risk policy), the presence of jargon within the COVID-19 topic condition did not affect message perceptions—at first. In subsequent waves of data collection, however, it was found that the influence of jargon strengthened over time within the COVID-19 topic condition. Specifically, jargon began to exert a stronger influence on processing fluency despite the continued urgency of the topic. This finding suggests that motivation to process COVID-19 related information declined over time. Theoretical contributions for language, processing fluency, and persuasion are offered and practical implications for health, risk, science, and crisis communicators are advanced.

BookTubers as Multimodal Reading Influencers: An Analysis of Subscriber Interactions

The objective of the study was to learn about the relationships between BookTubers and their subscribers by focusing on the comments left by viewers of the audio-visual literary reviews. We also examined whether viewer-BookTuber relationships resulted in the promotion of reading. A mixed qualitative-quantitative methodology was followed, including a descriptive analysis of contents and a case study. The main tools used were MAXQDA to process the qualitative data and Excel to obtain the quantitative data. The sample was a non-random selection of four BookTubers channels, taking into account both their impact and gender equality (two female and two male BookTubers). The categorization was conducted based on Cultural Studies and Reception Aesthetics. A total of eight videos (four reviews and four Book Hauls) were selected and 100 comments on each were analyzed, giving rise to four categories. The results indicated that in terms of content decoding, close relationships were established among community members, between both consumers and producers. In addition, message acceptance took place and a certain relationship was found between the BookTuber’s work and the promotion of reading. BookTubers were therefore identified as multimodal influencers.

A Norm-Based Conditional Process Model of the Negative Impact of Optimistic Bias on Self-Protection Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Three Chinese Cities

Data were collected from 896 participants in three Chinese cities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to varying degrees through an online survey platform. A conditional process model was then proposed for the impact of optimistic bias on self-protection behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of social norms. Statistical analysis demonstrates that optimistic bias has a negative impact on self-protection behaviors through message acceptance. Perceived social norms moderate this relationship in the following ways: (1) The higher the perceptions of social norms, the smaller the negative impact of optimistic bias on message acceptance, and the smaller the positive impact of message acceptance on self-protection behaviors. (2) Within a certain range, the higher the perceptions of social norms, the smaller the negative impact, both direct and indirect, of optimistic bias on self-protection behaviors. (3) The direct and indirect effects of optimistic bias on self-protection behaviors become insignificant when perceptions of social norms are very strong. Comparing the data of the three cities shows that higher risk is associated with a stronger role of social norms in moderating the relationship between optimistic bias and self-protection behaviors. The above results suggest that there may be both internal (optimistic bias) and external (social norms) reference points in individual decision-making regarding health behaviors. The theoretical and practical significance of the dual reference points are discussed.

The relative efficacy of positively and negatively valenced road safety campaign messages in improving dangerous driving attitudes

Dangerous driving is a social problem that results in serious injuries, fatalities, and significant economic costs. Extensive research has examined the efficacy of road safety campaigns in curbing dangerous driving, however, these investigations have largely focused on negatively valenced messages. Less attention has been paid to positively valenced examples, and the role of drivers’ motivations for dangerous driving in relation to message impact. One hundred sixty licensed drivers (female, n = 120; male, n = 30; other, n = 10) completed a questionnaire that measured their current driving behaviours and their motives for driving dangerously. Drivers then viewed one of two safe driving messages (either positive or negative in valence) and provided a gauge of message impact. Finally, looking to the future, participants completed a measure of planned driving behaviour. Results revealed differences across sex in drivers’ motivations to drive dangerously, as well as their planned behavioural change after viewing the safety messages. On average, participants recorded greater response efficacy and message acceptance, and lower message rejection in the positive message group, compared to the negative message group. Further, in a separate analysis of female-only drivers, a number motivators of dangerous driving were linked to message impact from safe driving campaigns. The findings suggest that, despite the traditional dominance of negatively valenced campaigns, there may be benefit in the use of positive campaigns, and further that motivators of dangerous driving can be linked to message impact from safe driving campaigns, supporting the case for a more targeted approach in campaign design.

MESSAGE ACCEPTANCE OF NGAJI FILSAFAT PREACHING THROUGH INSTAGRAM

This study aimed to understand the impact of message acceptance of Ngaji Filsafat preaching through Instagram using the Albert Bandura Social Learning Theory. In achieving the goal, this study used a qualitative approach with the case study method. Data sources of this study were from interviews on 13 informants and documentation. The study result shows that Ngaji Filsafat preaching through Instagram is effective in motivating hijra for the better, such as improving religiosity understanding, providing life values motivation, motivating to continue to improve and reflect oneself, improving knowledge insight, and triggering oneself to create change movements. These behaviors are inherent with environmental factors, knowledge (personal), and informants’ behavior. It is consistent with Albert Bandura’s triadic reciprocal.

How to Communicate Food Safety after Radiological Contamination: The Effectiveness of Numerical and Narrative News Messages

Food risk and the safety of foodstuffs in the aftermath of contamination are highly sensitive issues to communicate. Food risks receive extensive attention from the news media, which requires messages to be carefully drafted to minimize harm and avoid unnecessary boycotts. Once a food risk is deemed eliminated, communication efforts must rebuild trust among consumers. The latter is a particularly difficult task after radiological contamination. This study tests whether numerical messages, narrative messages, or messages combining both elements are more effective in persuading the public to consume foodstuffs from Fukushima, a region that continues to battle stigma since the nuclear accident in 2011. We employ a survey-embedded experiment on a sample of the general Belgian population (N = 1085), during which respondents are presented with a mock news article presenting either a (1) numerical, (2) narrative, or (3) a combined message and test their subsequent evaluation of the article. We find that the numerical message leads to significantly higher perceived credibility and message acceptance than both the combined and the narrative message. Furthermore, we find that attitudes towards nuclear energy have a strong independent effect on message acceptance and evaluation, with those respondents who report a more positive stance towards nuclear energy more readily accepting the message. Food risk and safety communication may thus benefit from adopting a more detached, numerical approach for sensitive issues.

Believe It or Not? Partisanship, Preferences, and the Credibility of Campaign Promises

We use a novel survey experiment with a broadly representative sample to reveal an important phenomenon in voter integration of campaign communications: preference-mediated partisan motivation. When evaluating the credibility of candidate position changes on minimum wage policy (a readily quantifiable and salient issue domain), partisans do not take a new stance at face value, apply universal skepticism, or simply afford more credibility to co-partisans. Instead, they process a candidate’s stance through an interaction between the voter’s partisan allegiance and their own policy preference. Partisans update more when a co-partisan moves closer to them than when the candidate shifts away from them. The opposite pattern emerges with the other party’s candidates: partisans tend to be more receptive if the candidate moves away from them. This feature of campaign message acceptance has profound implications for political communication and our understanding of partisan cognition.

A meta-analysis and an experiment investigating the effects of speaker disfluency on persuasion

A meta-analysis of the speech disfluency literature suggested that the relationship between speaker disfluencies and competence judgments may be mediated. The theory of elaborative resistance production (TERP; Turner & Banas, 2007) was then applied to the effects of disfluencies on speaker persuasiveness. An experiment was conducted such that 240 undergraduate students watched a short video in which a speaker was either high or low reward and produced 0, 1, or 2 verbal disfluencies. Evidence was found consistent with a causal chain running from speaker disfluency to attitude-defensive cognitions, then to ratings of speaker credibility, and then to message acceptance.