Prior Attitude, Individualism and Perceived Scientists’ Expertise: Exploring Motivated Reasoning of Scientific Information About HIV Risks of Homosexuals in China

On Chinese social media, the stigmatization of homosexuals is tightly connected to the belief that they have a higher risk of contraction than others. However, scientists’ estimation of such risks is selectively framed on media outlets, and could cause confusion about and even polarization around th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of media psychology 2024-07
Main Authors: Zhu, Yicheng, Xu, Jinghong, Zhang, Rukun, Lan, Duo, Jiang, Yulou
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Experience Level
Female
HIV
Homosexuality (Attitudes Toward)
Human
Individualism
Male
Messages
Scientific Communication
Social Perception
Sociocultural Factors
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Summary:On Chinese social media, the stigmatization of homosexuals is tightly connected to the belief that they have a higher risk of contraction than others. However, scientists’ estimation of such risks is selectively framed on media outlets, and could cause confusion about and even polarization around the topic. In the theoretical framework of motivated reasoning, the current study showcases a cognition-intention link in the processing of scientific information regarding homosexuals’ high HIV/AIDS prevalence in China. An online survey experiment ( N = 695) using different emphasis frames of the findings from a scientific report shows that ad hoc identification with homosexuals’ rights, and individualism, strongly moderates the direct effect of exposure to different messages on intention of message forwarding, and also the indirect effect mediated by the perception of scientists’ expertise.
ISSN:1864-1105
2151-2388
DOI:10.1027/1864-1105/a000437