Call them COVIDiots: Exploring the effects of aggressive communication style and psychological distance in the communication of COVID-19.

Haoran Chu,Sixiao Liu,Shupei Yuan

doi:10.1177/0963662521989191

Abstract

This study examined the influences of perceived distance to communicator on the effects of aggressive style (i.e. personal attacks and intense languages) in communicating scientific issues such as COVID-19 to the public. With a multi-site experiment (N = 464), we found that aggression led to a heightened violation of expected social norm regarding communication styles. However, the interpretation of violation varied depending on the individual’s perceived distance to the communicator. Close distance articulated the urgency and severity of COVID-19 risks conveyed with aggression, which further increased compliance with the message. Far distance perception amplified aggression’s negative influence on writer likeability. The findings showed that aggressive communication may generate positive outcomes when dealing with public understanding of scientific issues such as COVID-19, but communicators need to build a closer connection with their audience.

Highlights

This study examined the influences of perceived distance to communicator on the effects of aggressive style in communicating scientific issues such as COVID-19 to the public
In response to the challenges illustrated earlier, this study examines the effects of aggressive style in science communication based on expectancy violation theory (EVT) and construal level theory (CLT) of psychological distance
We focus on psychological distance to explicate its conditional effects of aggressive communication style and expectancy violation on public understanding of scientific issues such as COVID-19 prevention

Summary

Introduction

This study examined the influences of perceived distance to communicator on the effects of aggressive style (i.e. personal attacks and intense languages) in communicating scientific issues such as COVID-19 to the public. Besides seeing aggressive messages as the author’s emotional expression, we need to recognize the influences of aggressive communication on individual audience’s decision-making This is especially true as the responsibility of communicating science and debunking widespread misinformation has been decentralized from a small group of experts to informed individuals embedded in large social networks (Tambuscio et al, 2015). In response to the challenges illustrated earlier, this study examines the effects of aggressive style in science communication based on expectancy violation theory (EVT) and construal level theory (CLT) of psychological distance. We review EVT and CLT in the context of science communication and illustrate the corresponding hypotheses

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion