TY - JOUR
T1 - The Role of Influence of Presumed Influence and Anticipated Guilt in Evoking Social Correction of COVID-19 Misinformation
AU - Sun, Yanqing
AU - Oktavianus, Jeffry
AU - Wang, Sai
AU - Lu, Fangcao
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Dr. Stella C. Chia for her valuable comments during the revision of this manuscript. The authors would also like to thank the two reviewers for their constructive comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2022/9/19
Y1 - 2022/9/19
N2 - Misinformation on social media pertaining to COVID-19 poses a great threat to public health. The active correction of misinformation by social media users and an understanding of the drivers of such behavior can help solve this ongoing issue. Drawing on the influence of presumed influence model and cognitive appraisal theory, an online experiment (N = 400) was conducted to examine how exposure to corrective messages with regard to COVID-19 misinformation induced individuals’ threat appraisals of the influence of the misinformation on others and how these threat appraisals and the corresponding emotional responses motivated individuals to take corrective actions. The results suggested that people’s perceptions of the severity of the influence of misinformation on others engendered anticipated guilt, which, in turn, strengthened their intentions to correct misinformation related to COVID-19. The study offers guidance on how to effectively craft a corrective message to encourage audiences to counter misinformation together.
AB - Misinformation on social media pertaining to COVID-19 poses a great threat to public health. The active correction of misinformation by social media users and an understanding of the drivers of such behavior can help solve this ongoing issue. Drawing on the influence of presumed influence model and cognitive appraisal theory, an online experiment (N = 400) was conducted to examine how exposure to corrective messages with regard to COVID-19 misinformation induced individuals’ threat appraisals of the influence of the misinformation on others and how these threat appraisals and the corresponding emotional responses motivated individuals to take corrective actions. The results suggested that people’s perceptions of the severity of the influence of misinformation on others engendered anticipated guilt, which, in turn, strengthened their intentions to correct misinformation related to COVID-19. The study offers guidance on how to effectively craft a corrective message to encourage audiences to counter misinformation together.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101065423&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10410236.2021.1888452
DO - 10.1080/10410236.2021.1888452
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1041-0236
VL - 37
SP - 1368
EP - 1377
JO - Health Communication
JF - Health Communication
IS - 11
ER -
