TY - JOUR
AU - Dorison, Charles A.
AU - Lerner, Jennifer S.
AU - Heller, Blake
AU - Rothman, Alexander J.
AU - Kawachi, Ichiro I.
AU - Wang, Ke
AU - Rees, Vaughan W.
AU - Gill, Brian P.
AU - Gibbs, Nancy
AU - Wolfe, Kelly
AU - Ebersole, Charles R.
AU - Vally, Zahir
AU - Tajchman, Zuzanna
AU - Zsido, Andras N.
AU - Zrimsek, Mija
AU - Chen, Zhang
AU - Ziano, Ignazio
AU - Gialitaki, Zoi
AU - Ceary, Chris D.
AU - Lin, Yijun
AU - Kunisato, Yoshihiko
AU - Yamada, Yuki
AU - Xiao, Qinyu
AU - Jiang, Xiaoming
AU - Du, Xinkai
AU - Yao, Elvin
AU - Wilson, John Paul
AU - Cyrus-Lai, Wilson
AU - Jiménez-Leal, William
AU - Law, Wilbert
PY - 2022
DA - September
TI - In COVID-19 Health Messaging, Loss Framing Increases Anxiety with Little-to-No Concomitant Benefits: Experimental Evidence from 84 Countries
JO - Affective Science
EP - 602
VL - 3
IS - 3
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-022-00128-3
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g., “If you do not practice these steps, you can endanger yourself and others”) or potential gains (e.g., “If you practice these steps, you can protect yourself and others”)? Collecting data in 48 languages from 15,929 participants in 84 countries, we experimentally tested the effects of message framing on COVID-19-related judgments, intentions, and feelings. Loss- (vs. gain-) framed messages increased self-reported anxiety among participants cross-nationally with little-to-no impact on policy attitudes, behavioral intentions, or information seeking relevant to pandemic risks. These results were consistent across 84 countries, three variations of the message framing wording, and 560 data processing and analytic choices. Thus, results provide an empirical answer to a global communication question and highlight the emotional toll of loss-framed messages. Critically, this work demonstrates the importance of considering unintended affective consequences when evaluating nudge-style interventions.
PB - Springer Nature
UR - https://researchportal.hw.ac.uk/en/publications/fdd13b4e-786f-4ede-acac-4cb10b2d15a2
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
KW - Mental health and wellbeing
ER