The Role of Information Avoidance in Managing Uncertainty from Conflicting Recommendations about Electronic Cigarettes.

IF 3.1 2区文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION

Communication Monographs Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Epub Date: 2020-09-02 DOI:10.1080/03637751.2020.1809685

Qinghua Yang, Natalie Herbert, Sijia Yang, Julia Alber, Yotam Ophir, Joseph N Cappella

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引用次数: 19

Abstract

Insufficient scientific evidence about electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has led to conflicting recommendations (CRs) by credible scientific organizations, creating a public health debate that could prove especially difficult to reconcile as current and former smokers make decisions about whether to use e-cigarettes. To investigate how CRs about e-cigarettes may affect intentions to engage in healthy behaviors, 717 former and current smokers were randomly exposed to one of five conditions (varying in the level of conflict in recommendations) in this between-subject experiment. Our results indicated a significant interaction between the message level of conflict and individuals' information avoidance, employed to maintain hope and deniability. These results suggest the effects of CRs stemming from scientific uncertainty vary with subgroups of people, pointing to several pressing theoretical and practical implications.

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信息回避在管理不确定性中的作用关于电子烟的相互矛盾的建议。

关于电子烟的科学证据不足，导致可信的科学组织提出了相互矛盾的建议，这引发了一场公共卫生辩论，随着现任和前任吸烟者决定是否使用电子烟，这场辩论可能特别难以调和。为了调查关于电子烟的CR如何影响健康行为的意图，在这项受试者之间的实验中，717名以前和现在的吸烟者被随机暴露于五种条件中的一种（建议中的冲突程度不同）。我们的研究结果表明，冲突的信息水平与个人的信息回避之间存在显著的交互作用，这些信息回避被用来维持希望和否认。这些结果表明，由科学不确定性引起的CR的影响因人群的亚组而异，指出了一些紧迫的理论和实践意义。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Communication Monographs COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

5.40

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Communication Monographs, published in March, June, September & December, reports original, theoretically grounded research dealing with human symbolic exchange across the broad spectrum of interpersonal, group, organizational, cultural and mediated contexts in which such activities occur. The scholarship reflects diverse modes of inquiry and methodologies that bear on the ways in which communication is shaped and functions in human interaction. The journal endeavours to publish the highest quality communication social science manuscripts that are grounded theoretically. The manuscripts aim to expand, qualify or integrate existing theory or additionally advance new theory. The journal is not restricted to particular theoretical or methodological perspectives.