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A brief forewarning intervention overcomes negative effects of salient changes in COVID-19 guidance.
- Source :
- Judgment & Decision Making; Nov2021, Vol. 16 Issue 6, p1549-1574, 26p
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
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]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19302975
- Volume :
- 16
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Judgment & Decision Making
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 153943958
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s1930297500008548