How do Good and Bad News Impact Mood During the Covid-19 Pandemic? The Role of Similarity

Dörnemann, Antonia; Boenisch, Nika; Schommer, Leonard; Winkelhorst, Lara; Wingen, Tobias

doi:10.31219/osf.io/sy2kd

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…For example, it seems possible that the high network centrality of the perceived value of science is Covid-19 specific. People experienced the Covid-19 pandemic on a daily basis, for example, through governmental restrictions (Dohle et al, 2020) or media reports (Dörnemann et al, 2021). Perhaps, when thinking about such a pressing and directly relevant problem, it is crucial for the overall attitude whether science provides valuable knowledge for curbing the pandemic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Questions were asked with a special focus on Covid-19 related science, as participants were informed at the beginning of the survey that "The following questions are about the current Corona pandemic -from here on referred to as Corona". Only the question assessing general trust in science was asked before this specification, but it can be assumed that this context was nevertheless highly accessible, as the media routinely reported on the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences (Dörnemann et al, 2021;Zimmermann et al, 2021). Beyond assessing people's attitudes towards science, the questionnaire also included a few questions on trust in several non-scientific institutions (e.g., politics) and on how wellinformed participants felt about the Coronavirus, which are, however, not analysed in this article.…”

Section: Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Attitudes Towards Science During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Wingen

Lecuona

Dohle

2022

EJHC

Self Cite

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A better understanding of the public attitude towards science could be crucial to tackle the spread of mis- and disinformation related to the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. We here contribute to this understanding by conceptualising and analysing the attitude toward science as a psychological network. For this analysis, we utilised cross-sectional data from a German probability sample (N = 1,009), the “Science Barometer”, collected during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Overall, our network analysis revealed that especially the perceived value of science for curbing the pandemic is central to the attitude towards science. Beliefs about this value are related to trust in science and trust in scientific information and to positive and negative evaluations of scientific controversy and complexity. Further, valuing common sense over science was related to seeking less scientific information on official websites, suggesting that this belief, in particular, may drive mis- and disinformation and could be a promising target for interventions. Finally, we found no evidence that seeking scientific information on social media had detrimental consequences for the attitude towards science. Implications for health communication and science communication, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes Towards Science During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Wingen

Lecuona

Dohle

2022

EJHC

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, it seems possible that the high network centrality of the perceived value of science is COVID-19 specific. People experienced the COVID-19 pandemic on a daily basis, for example, through governmental restrictions (Dohle et al, 2020) or media reports (Dörnemann et al, 2021). Perhaps, when thinking about such a pressing and directly relevant problem it is crucial for the overall attitude whether science provides valuable knowledge for curbing the pandemic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Questions were asked with a special focus on COVID-19 related science, as participants were informed at the beginning of the survey that "The following questions are about the current Corona pandemicfrom here on referred to as Corona". Only the question assessing general trust in science was asked before this specification, but it can be assumed that this context was nevertheless highly accessible, as the media routinely reported on the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences (Dörnemann et al, 2021;Zimmermann et al, 2021). Beyond assessing people's attitudes towards science, the questionnaire also included a few questions on trust in several non-scientific institutions (e.g., politics) and on how well-informed participants felt about the Coronavirus, which are however not analysed in this article.…”

Section: Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards science during the COVID-19 pandemic: A psychological network approach

Wingen¹,

Lecuona²,

Dohle³

2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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A better understanding of the public attitude towards science could be crucial to tackle the spread of mis- and disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. We here contribute to this understanding by conceptualizing and analyzing the attitude toward science as a psychological network. For this analysis, we utilized data from a German probability sample (N = 1,009), the “Science Barometer”, collected during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, our network analysis revealed that especially the perceived value of science for curbing the pandemic is central to the attitude towards science. Beliefs about this value are related to trust in science and trust in scientific information and to positive and negative evaluations of scientific controversy and complexity. Further, valuing common sense over science was related to seeking less scientific information on official websites, suggesting that this belief, in particular, may drive mis- and disinformation and could be a promising target for interventions. Finally, we found no evidence that seeking scientific information on social media had detrimental consequences for the attitude towards science. Implications for health communication and science communication, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

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“…This is because information can increase one's sense of control, reduce an aversive sense of uncertainty, and help guide action (for review Sharot & Sunstein, 2020). However, if the information revealed is negative or confusing, it can further increase anxiety (Johnston & Davey, 1997;Norr et al, 2014;Shabahang et al, 2020;Dörnemann et al, 2021). Thus, the information people seek out when anxious could have a beneficial or a damaging effect on their well-being.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anxiety selectively increases information-seeking in response to large changes

Charpentier¹,

Dezza²,

Vellani³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Seeking information when anxious may help reduce uncertainty and guide decision-making. If information is negative or confusing, however, this may increase anxiety further. Information gathered under anxiety can thus be beneficial and/or damaging. Here, we examine whether anxiety leads to a general increase in information-seeking, or rather to situation-dependent changes in the type of information sought. In two controlled laboratory studies, we show that both trait and induced anxiety selectively increased information-seeking. In particular, anxiety did not enhance the general tendency to seek information, nor did it alter the valence of the information gathered. Rather anxiety increased information-seeking specifically in response to large changes in the environment. This was true even when the cause of the anxiety was not directly related to the information sought. As anxious individuals have been shown to have problems learning in changing environments, greater information-seeking in such environments may be an adaptive compensatory mechanism.

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How do Good and Bad News Impact Mood During the Covid-19 Pandemic? The Role of Similarity

Cited by 4 publications

References 30 publications

Attitudes Towards Science During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Attitudes Towards Science During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Attitudes towards science during the COVID-19 pandemic: A psychological network approach

Anxiety selectively increases information-seeking in response to large changes

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