Understanding the social-psychological determinants of the public's perceptions and intentions related to vaccination is key to promoting vaccination. The current study examines how individual differences in consideration of future and immediate consequences (CFC-F and CFC-I) impact risk perceptions of, and intentions to vaccinate against, COVID-19 and seasonal flu. A survey of 395 adults on Amazon Mechanical Turk during April and May of 2020 showed that CFC-F predicted vaccination intentions, whereas CFC-I did not. Moreover, CFC-F and CFC-I positively predicted affective risk perceptions, perceived susceptibility, and perceived severity of both COVID-19 and seasonal flu. Last, both CFC constructs had a positive indirect effect on vaccination intentions of COVID-19 and seasonal flu through increasing perceived severity of the corresponding disease. This study makes theoretical contributions to the CFC literature and offers valuable insights for the design of effective vaccine promotion messages.
The current study tests whether media consumption is associated with negative intergroup emotions toward Blacks, Latinos, and Asians and whether media use indirectly influences intergroup emotions via threat perceptions. We do so, using a two-study survey design. Results from Study 1 indicate that media consumption is associated with anger toward Latinos and Asians, but not anger towards Blacks. We also found that media use was associated with anxiety towards Blacks, Latinos, and Asians. Results from Study 2 indicate that media use indirectly influences anger and anxiety towards Blacks and Latinos through perceptions of threat. Media consumption did not indirectly influence anger and anxiety towards Asians, though perceptions of threat did directly influence intergroup emotions toward this group. The discussion highlights the important, but negative, role of media in intergroup processes.
Drawing on the literature on American nationalism and the social identity perspective, this study examines the effects of mediasport on nationalized attitudes, using both rhetorical and experimental approaches. First, a rhetorical analysis examined the nationalistic themes featured in the game promotional ad of the United States versus Ghana soccer match in World Cup 2014, linking these themes to the republicanism/liberalism paradox in American political thought. Using the social identity perspective, we predicted the effects of these themes on U.S. participants' nationalized attitudes and tested our hypotheses using an experiment. Experimental findings indicate that exposure to nationalistic rhetoric indirectly increases uncritical patriotism, critical patriotism, and support of militarism attitudes via self-enhancement gratifications. Additionally, exposure to nationalistic rhetoric also indirectly influences uncritical patriotism via social uncertainty reduction gratifications. Our study demonstrates the utility of a mixed-method approach and points out directions for future research on the (re)construction of social identities through mediasport.
This study integrates cultivation and intergroup threat theories to examine media cultivation effects during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that U.S. media have consistently portrayed China as a threat and target of blame. The cultivation of media has thus resulted in perceived threat of and blame on Chinese people for the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of a cross-sectional survey in two samples (MTurk: N = 375; college: N = 566) showed that the amount of media consumption predicted stronger perceptions that Chinese people were a health threat, and also predicted blame on Chinese people for the COVID-19 outbreak. Threat perception and blame were further associated with support of media content that derogated China, stronger intentions to attack, and weaker intentions to help Chinese people. The findings have profound implications for intergroup threat and cultivation research, and practical importance for intergroup relations, especially when the global community finds itself in a public crisis.
Drawing on self-categorization theory, this paper examines the indirect effects of gender salience and prototypicality on friendship potential through increasing liking of a female interlocutor. We manipulated biographies of the fictitious interlocutor to change perceptions of prototypicality. For women, gender salience interacted with prototypicality to directly predict liking, and the desire to become friends with the interlocutor indirectly through liking. Specifically, there was an interaction between prototypically and gender salience, such that as gender salience increased, the prototypical interlocutor was liked significantly more, and had higher friendship potential. For men, the same relationships did not appear. We discuss the implications of our study as well as directions for future research on intragroup communication and intergroup contexts with regards to power asymmetry.
Purpose To determine whether social media use, alcohol consumption, and sociodemographic factors predicted Americans’ knowledge about alcohol-related cancer risk. Design Health Information National Trends Survey (2020). Setting United States. Subjects A nationally representative sample ( N = 3865; response rate = 36.7%). Measures Knowledge about cancer risk of beer, wine, and liquor; social media use; demographics; smoking status; alcohol consumption; and cancer history. Analysis Data were analyzed using multinomial multiple logistic regression with jackknife replicate weights. Results Less than a third of U.S. adults (20.34-31.20%) were aware of cancer risk of alcohol. People who watched health-related YouTube videos were more likely to be well-informed (odds ratio [OR] = 1.55 [95% confidence interval 1.01, 2.36] for beer) and misinformed (OR = 1.68 [1.17, 2.43] for wine). Alcohol consumption predicted higher likelihoods of being misinformed about cancer risk of beer (OR = 1.03 [1.003, 1.05]). People who were older and had less education were less likely to be well-informed for all types of alcohol. Females (for liquor) and Blacks (for beer) were less likely to be well-informed and misinformed. Conclusion Social media can be a source of both correct information and misinformation about alcohol and cancer risk. Health promotion should target older adults, people with less education, racial minorities, females, and people who consume alcohol.
Intergroup communication centers people's memberships in social groups, termed social identities, in determining people's beliefs, attitudes, emotions, and ultimately their communicative behaviors. An intergroup perspective on health communication examines how people's social identities influence health communication processes. Scholars suggest two ways to move theory and research forward in intergroup health communication. First, scholars can develop and test identity‐based theories of health communication. Health communication messages that are tailored based upon people's group memberships vary in effectiveness depending on the message context and group prototypes. Moreover, implicit biases that health clinicians hold are a contributing factor to the health disparities we see regarding marginalized groups. Second, scholars can integrate identity‐related constructs into existing persuasion theories. This line of research examines social identity as a predictor of theoretical concepts that have been shown to persuade people in health contexts. We recommend that health communication practitioners consult or conduct culturally centered research to understand group prototypes around specific health topics when creating health communication campaigns.
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