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This study examines the effectiveness of distance-framed narratives in deterring e-cigarette use among young adults. Through an online experiment (N = 916), this study investigates how narratives with different distance cues influence participants' narrative engagement, perceived psychological distance, and compliance with the message. The findings suggest that distance-framed narratives heighten identification. Increased identification reduces perceived psychological distance, leading to more negative attitudes, decreased e-cigarette use intention, and stronger policy support. E-cigarette use status also impacts persuasive outcomes. Non-users tend to be more receptive to narratives featuring congruent distance cues in character and scenario depictions. Users are motivated by narratives that present an uncertain scenario, regardless of whether the character is portrayed as socially close or distant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) contamination is an emerging environmental and health risk facing the world. This study examines the impact of conflicting information on Americans' attitude toward PFAS regulation and intention to engage in mitigation behaviors through a one-way, between-subjects experiment. Participants were 1,062 U.S. adults recruited from CloudResearch. Results showed that compared to participants exposed to consistent information, those exposed to conflicting information displayed less favorable attitude toward existing regulation, which led to lower intention to support related policies and to engage in mitigation behaviors. Political ideology moderated these relationships, with stronger experimental effects among conservatives. These findings underscore the importance of conveying consistent risk messages, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on survey data collected from a nationally representative sample (N = 1,000), this study applies the psychometric paradigm to demonstrate that the American public perceived the monkeypox outbreak as a more dreaded risk than the monkeypox vaccine, but they also viewed the monkeypox vaccine as a more unknown risk. These perceptions influenced their overall risk judgment toward the monkeypox outbreak, support for public health responses and government assistance measures, and likelihood to get vaccinated. Contributing to research on risk perception, these findings indicate that the dread and unknown dimensions offer a more intricate assessment of risk perception beyond perceived susceptibility and perceived severity. Guiding risk communication practice, these results suggest that it is important to highlight to the public that the monkeypox vaccine is a mature technology and getting vaccinated before exposure provides the best protection for high‐risk populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on construal level theory, results from a survey based on a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults (N = 1000) indicate an indirect effect of social distance and temporal distance perception on emotional response, policy support, and vaccination intention through risk perception. This study also reveals that social dominance orientation contributes to perceived psychological distance of the monkeypox outbreak. These results suggest that communication about a public health crisis such as monkeypox needs to emphasize its broader community impact, rather than focusing on the primary population affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by construal level-theory, this research seeks to understand the effect of perceived psychological distance on emotions and risk perception associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in its early stage. Survey data were collected from a nationally representative U.S. adult sample (N = 1009) in April 2020. Results reveal that social distance was negatively related to emotions and risk perception. However, hypothetical distance was not significantly related to these variables. Emotions and risk perception also mediated the relationship between social distance and support for aid response measures; theoretically, we demonstrate that people evaluate risks contingent on their emotions when making decisions. This research contributes to extant literature on psychological distance and its utility in communication messaging design during public health crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying the risk information seeking and processing (RISP) model, this study explores the antecedents to information seeking and information avoidance about a relatively novel risk – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. Based on an experimental survey, we found that current knowledge, informational subjective norms, and risk perception are positively related to information seeking and information avoidance. Perceived personal control is positively related to information avoidance, but not related to information seeking. Fear is positively related to information seeking, but sadness is not related to either seeking or avoidance. Lastly, information seeking and information avoidance are associated with preventive behaviors related to PFAS contamination in the opposite direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narratives have been identified as an effective tool to communicate seemingly abstract and uncertain risks. This study integrates the construal level theory of psychological distance and narrative persuasion to examine how distance‐framed narratives influence young adults' attitude, behavioral intention, and policy support related to ocean plastic pollution. Results from an experimental survey (N = 889) indicate that the narrative featuring socially close characters and spatially close location is least effective in producing persuasive effects. Instead, the narrative depicting socially close characters' encounters at a spatially distant location is more persuasive. Within narrative conditions, the findings support the mediating role of identification and transportation in facilitating narrative effects. Serial mediation of identification/transportation and psychological distance perception was also observed. Findings from this study offer meaningful theoretical and practical implications for strategic communication on ocean plastic pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Guided by the risk information seeking and processing model, this study examines social cognitive variables that motivate individuals to actively seek and process information related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. Results indicate that information insufficiency, affective response, and informational subjective norms are positively related to information seeking and systematic processing, which are positively associated with policy support and intention to adopt risk mitigation behaviors. These findings suggest that when communicating the health risks of PFAS contamination to the general public, cognitive, affective, and normative factors are important initial steps to generate public interest in relevant information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses innumerable threats to economic, social, and environmental systems. Despite our best efforts, emerging research indicates that mitigation and adaptation efforts must incorporate technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) to draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it elsewhere. This study examines how psychological distance and perceived risk pertaining to climate change influence Texans' support for CCS through perceived CCS costs/benefits and affect. Overall, the results indicate that perceived psychological distance of climate change influences support for CCS through risk perception about local climate change impacts, perceived CCS benefits, and affective evaluation. Political partisanship moderates the relationship between psychological distance and climate change risk perception, but not the relationship between psychological distance and support for CCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, based on data collected from a representative sample of adults in the United States, explores the social cognitive variables that motivated Americans to validate rumours on social media about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, both of which struck in August/September 2017. The results indicate that risk perception and negative emotions are positively related to systematic processing of relevant risk information, and that systematic processing is significantly related to rumour validation through search engines such as Google. In contrast, trust in information about the hurricane is significantly related to validation through official sources, such as FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), and major news outlets such as The New York Times. Trust in information is also significantly related to systematic processing of risk information. The findings of this study suggest that ordinary citizens may be motivated to validate rumours on social media, which is an increasingly important issue in contemporary societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, it is important for people to engage in prosocial behaviours to support one another. The aim of this research is to answer a key question: in a social crisis, what motivates Americans to help others? Guided by research on appraisal theories and ecosystem theory, we examined the role of compassionate goals and prosocial emotions in promoting prosocial behaviours towards either out‐group or in‐group members. Study 1 (N = 943) was conducted in February 2020, before the widespread transmission of COVID‐19 began in the United States. Results show that people with high compassionate goals are more likely to experience sympathy, which in turn makes them more willing to help people suffering from COVID‐19 in China. Study 2 (N = 1,009) was conducted with a nationally representative sample after COVID‐19 became more prevalent in the United States. Although people with high compassionate goals still experience more sympathy and solidarity, sympathy does not predict donation intention. Instead, solidarity mediates the relationship between compassionate goals and donation intention. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]