1. A brief forewarning intervention overcomes negative effects of salient changes in COVID-19 guidance.
- Author
-
Gretton, Jeremy D., Meyers, Ethan A., Walker, Alexander C., Fugelsang, Jonathan A., and Koehler, Derek J.
- Subjects
COVID-19 ,COVID-19 pandemic ,MEDICAL scientists ,SCIENTIFIC communication ,PUBLIC health ,MEDICAL masks ,CONTACT tracing - Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, public health guidance (e.g., regarding the use of non-medical masks) changed over time. Although many revisions were a result of gains in scientific understanding, we nonetheless hypothesized that making changes in guidance salient would negatively affect evaluations of experts and health-protective intentions. In Study 1 (N = 300), we demonstrate that describing COVID-19 guidance in terms of inconsistency (versus consistency) leads people to perceive scientists and public health authorities less favorably (e.g., as less expert). For participants in Canada (n = 190), though not the U.S. (n = 110), making guidance change salient also reduced intentions to download a contact tracing app. In Study 2 (N = 1399), we show that a brief forewarning intervention mitigates detrimental effects of changes in guidance. In the absence of forewarning, emphasizing inconsistency harmed judgments of public health authorities and reduced health-protective intentions, but forewarning eliminated this effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF