Pub Date : 2025-03-26DOI: 10.1177/00936502251327717
Yariv Tsfati, Aviv Barnoy
In an era of increasing attention to media trust, some have argued that differentiating between media cynicism and media skepticism (as both attitudinal and behavioral concepts) can advance a more nuanced understanding of media trust and its implications. While previous efforts conceptualized cynicism and skepticism as separate discrete phenomena, this allows the seemingly illogical possibility that some people would score high on both cynicism and skepticism. Additionally, these previous studies failed to demonstrate whether media cynicism and skepticism actually matter for audience reading and processing of news media content. After conceptualizing these terms on a single continuum varying between automatic rejection to automatic trust, Study 1 offers a procedure to test whether cynics process news stories faster, and whether skeptics’ trust in different news stories varies more compared to cynics’. Given that skepticism was hypothesized to reflect more deliberate thinking, we also tested whether media skeptics provide different kinds of justifications when asked to explain their evaluations of specific news stories, compared to cynics and trustors. Studies 2 and 3 test theoretically-driven hypotheses about automatic-trust, skepticism and cynicism and find that cynics’ and automatic trustors’ general evaluations of media are based on partisan reasoning and skeptics’ evaluation of the media is independent from their political ideology. Skeptical audiences were also found to consume more news and from a diversity of sources.
{"title":"Media Cynicism, Media Skepticism and Automatic Media Trust: Explicating Their Connection with News Processing and Exposure","authors":"Yariv Tsfati, Aviv Barnoy","doi":"10.1177/00936502251327717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251327717","url":null,"abstract":"In an era of increasing attention to media trust, some have argued that differentiating between media cynicism and media skepticism (as both attitudinal and behavioral concepts) can advance a more nuanced understanding of media trust and its implications. While previous efforts conceptualized cynicism and skepticism as separate discrete phenomena, this allows the seemingly illogical possibility that some people would score high on both cynicism and skepticism. Additionally, these previous studies failed to demonstrate whether media cynicism and skepticism actually matter for audience reading and processing of news media content. After conceptualizing these terms on a single continuum varying between automatic rejection to automatic trust, Study 1 offers a procedure to test whether cynics process news stories faster, and whether skeptics’ trust in different news stories varies more compared to cynics’. Given that skepticism was hypothesized to reflect more deliberate thinking, we also tested whether media skeptics provide different kinds of justifications when asked to explain their evaluations of specific news stories, compared to cynics and trustors. Studies 2 and 3 test theoretically-driven hypotheses about automatic-trust, skepticism and cynicism and find that cynics’ and automatic trustors’ general evaluations of media are based on partisan reasoning and skeptics’ evaluation of the media is independent from their political ideology. Skeptical audiences were also found to consume more news and from a diversity of sources.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143702753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-24DOI: 10.1177/00936502251328717
Elena Link
Health information behaviors are situational and dynamic in nature. Being confronted with illness-related uncertainty in a specific situation, certain individuals might consistently or temporarily seek, scan, or avoid information and combine these strategies. Relying on an Experience Sampling Method Design study repeatedly querying N = 383 acutely or chronically ill individuals, the study provides a situational view on health information behaviors describing single episodes, distinguishing the “trait” and “state” components of information behaviors, and the between- and within-person relationship between information behaviors. Bayesian multilevel models illustrated that and how health information behaviors consisting of a stable trait and temporal state component were adjusted in certain situations. The manifestations of information seeking, scanning, and avoidance share tangible aspects but differ in the issues of relevance as well as the sources selected. Their relationship suggests their distinct nature as negatively related behaviors.
{"title":"Single Episodes of Health Information Seeking, Scanning, and Avoidance: Findings of an Experience Sampling Methods Study of German Residents Suffering From Acute or Chronic Illness","authors":"Elena Link","doi":"10.1177/00936502251328717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251328717","url":null,"abstract":"Health information behaviors are situational and dynamic in nature. Being confronted with illness-related uncertainty in a specific situation, certain individuals might consistently or temporarily seek, scan, or avoid information and combine these strategies. Relying on an Experience Sampling Method Design study repeatedly querying <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 383 acutely or chronically ill individuals, the study provides a situational view on health information behaviors describing single episodes, distinguishing the “trait” and “state” components of information behaviors, and the between- and within-person relationship between information behaviors. Bayesian multilevel models illustrated that and how health information behaviors consisting of a stable trait and temporal state component were adjusted in certain situations. The manifestations of information seeking, scanning, and avoidance share tangible aspects but differ in the issues of relevance as well as the sources selected. Their relationship suggests their distinct nature as negatively related behaviors.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143695419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-28DOI: 10.1177/00936502251319843
Yingru Ji, Weiting Tao, Chang Wan
Research on communication in crises across individual, organizational, and societal levels has expanded significantly, with attribution theory frequently used to explain how people interpret these crises. However, research in the three levels of crises has developed independently, limiting theoretical advancement. This study systematically reviews 133 attribution theory based communication articles in crisis situations, showing that responsibility attribution can be integrated into a unified framework. Attribution theories are most commonly integrated with situational crisis communication theory, framing theory, and image repair theory—three communication theories developed over three decades ago, primarily focusing on content effects. This study calls for modernizing attribution-related communication theories and testing media effects beyond content influence in today’s rapidly changing media environment. Additionally, it advocates for adopting a multi-agent approach to responsibility attribution and emphasizing treatment responsibility attribution. Further insights into research contexts and methodologies are provided to advance scholarly knowledge and suggest directions for future research.
{"title":"A Systematic Review of Attribution Theory Applied to Crisis Events in Communication Journals: Integration and Advancing Insights","authors":"Yingru Ji, Weiting Tao, Chang Wan","doi":"10.1177/00936502251319843","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251319843","url":null,"abstract":"Research on communication in crises across individual, organizational, and societal levels has expanded significantly, with attribution theory frequently used to explain how people interpret these crises. However, research in the three levels of crises has developed independently, limiting theoretical advancement. This study systematically reviews 133 attribution theory based communication articles in crisis situations, showing that responsibility attribution can be integrated into a unified framework. Attribution theories are most commonly integrated with situational crisis communication theory, framing theory, and image repair theory—three communication theories developed over three decades ago, primarily focusing on content effects. This study calls for modernizing attribution-related communication theories and testing media effects beyond content influence in today’s rapidly changing media environment. Additionally, it advocates for adopting a multi-agent approach to responsibility attribution and emphasizing treatment responsibility attribution. Further insights into research contexts and methodologies are provided to advance scholarly knowledge and suggest directions for future research.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143528309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-27DOI: 10.1177/00936502251318630
Megan Boler, Hoda Gharib, Yoon-Ji Kweon, Amanda Trigiani, Barbara Perry
This scoping review contributes an overview of recent research on effective media literacy interventions and recommendations relevant to cultivating critical mis/disinformation literacies for adults. The review examines articles published between 1 January 2016–22 November 2021 that report on or provide recommendations for media literacy interventions for adults suited to the emerging challenges of disinformation. Our findings reveal diverse intervention formats and evaluation methods including course-, web-, or game-based interventions, public events, and visual resources. Experts recommended teaching about emotion targeting and regulation, algorithmic governance, lateral reading, visual technology, and using interactive formats. Studies of evaluated interventions outside of formal education were scarce. Our review reveals significant debates around the usefulness of checklists and how to address politically sensitive issues, skepticism, and authority in programing. Future research and programing must attend to the needs of adult populations outside of formal education, and draw particularly upon librarians’ integral role in delivering community-based mis/disinformation literacy programing.
{"title":"Promoting Mis/Disinformation Literacy Among Adults: A Scoping Review of Interventions and Recommendations","authors":"Megan Boler, Hoda Gharib, Yoon-Ji Kweon, Amanda Trigiani, Barbara Perry","doi":"10.1177/00936502251318630","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251318630","url":null,"abstract":"This scoping review contributes an overview of recent research on effective media literacy interventions and recommendations relevant to cultivating critical mis/disinformation literacies for adults. The review examines articles published between 1 January 2016–22 November 2021 that report on or provide recommendations for media literacy interventions for adults suited to the emerging challenges of disinformation. Our findings reveal diverse intervention formats and evaluation methods including course-, web-, or game-based interventions, public events, and visual resources. Experts recommended teaching about emotion targeting and regulation, algorithmic governance, lateral reading, visual technology, and using interactive formats. Studies of evaluated interventions outside of formal education were scarce. Our review reveals significant debates around the usefulness of checklists and how to address politically sensitive issues, skepticism, and authority in programing. Future research and programing must attend to the needs of adult populations outside of formal education, and draw particularly upon librarians’ integral role in delivering community-based mis/disinformation literacy programing.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143528353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-27DOI: 10.1177/00936502251324549
Youngkee Ju, Pureum Lee
Journalism quality has been examined primarily through a normative lens and investigated through descriptive methods that overlook news consumers’ actual responses to it. Taking a more empirical, media-effects approach, we explore how a particular index of journalism quality—the quantity of news sources—relates to audience engagement. The concept of multiple news sources inherently involves normative elements of quality journalism, such as being truthful, impartial, and complete. This study examines how responses by news consumers to COVID-19 news coverage varied based on the number of sources cited in each news story. We quantified the sources in pandemic news coverage from two South Korean newspapers and one broadcast television channel, comparing them with recipients’ responses in the form of comments, emotional expressions, and recommendations. Our findings reveal that the number of news sources used in COVID-19 health crisis coverage was associated with the number of comments made by news consumers. Similarly, audience clicks on emotional expressions increased as the number of news sources increased. Furthermore, there were more consumer recommendations for COVID-19 news coverage when the news media cited a greater number of sources. These findings underscore the implications of the multiple-source effect on audience engagement and suggest avenues for improving journalism quality.
{"title":"More Sources Create Greater Audience Engagement: An Investigation into the Relationship Between the Number of News Sources and Audience Responses","authors":"Youngkee Ju, Pureum Lee","doi":"10.1177/00936502251324549","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251324549","url":null,"abstract":"Journalism quality has been examined primarily through a normative lens and investigated through descriptive methods that overlook news consumers’ actual responses to it. Taking a more empirical, media-effects approach, we explore how a particular index of journalism quality—the quantity of news sources—relates to audience engagement. The concept of multiple news sources inherently involves normative elements of quality journalism, such as being truthful, impartial, and complete. This study examines how responses by news consumers to COVID-19 news coverage varied based on the number of sources cited in each news story. We quantified the sources in pandemic news coverage from two South Korean newspapers and one broadcast television channel, comparing them with recipients’ responses in the form of comments, emotional expressions, and recommendations. Our findings reveal that the number of news sources used in COVID-19 health crisis coverage was associated with the number of comments made by news consumers. Similarly, audience clicks on emotional expressions increased as the number of news sources increased. Furthermore, there were more consumer recommendations for COVID-19 news coverage when the news media cited a greater number of sources. These findings underscore the implications of the multiple-source effect on audience engagement and suggest avenues for improving journalism quality.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143528352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-21DOI: 10.1177/00936502251317818
Jana H. Dreston, German Neubaum
Research consistently shows that while social media use does not enhance objective political knowledge, it increases users’ sense of being knowledgeable (subjective knowledge). However, it is unclear which specific modes of social media use lead users to an enhanced feeling of being knowledgeable. This work focuses on two factors that are believed to shape users’ subjective knowledge when using social technologies: (a) the intentionality of social media use (intentional vs. incidental news consumption) and (b) the relevance of the news content. In a pre-registered, two-wave experiment ( N = 921), participants were exposed to either personally relevant or non-relevant topics on social media, either intentionally or incidentally. The results indicated that while intentionality of exposure did not affect subjective knowledge, intentional news search improved objective knowledge more than incidental exposure. The latter can still facilitate objective knowledge and increase subjective knowledge, as long as the news is considered as highly relevant.
{"title":"Navigating Social Media News Use: Exploring the Impact of Intentional and Incidental News Consumption on Objective and Subjective Political Knowledge","authors":"Jana H. Dreston, German Neubaum","doi":"10.1177/00936502251317818","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251317818","url":null,"abstract":"Research consistently shows that while social media use does not enhance objective political knowledge, it increases users’ sense of being knowledgeable (subjective knowledge). However, it is unclear which specific modes of social media use lead users to an enhanced feeling of being knowledgeable. This work focuses on two factors that are believed to shape users’ subjective knowledge when using social technologies: (a) the intentionality of social media use (intentional vs. incidental news consumption) and (b) the relevance of the news content. In a pre-registered, two-wave experiment ( N = 921), participants were exposed to either personally relevant or non-relevant topics on social media, either intentionally or incidentally. The results indicated that while intentionality of exposure did not affect subjective knowledge, intentional news search improved objective knowledge more than incidental exposure. The latter can still facilitate objective knowledge and increase subjective knowledge, as long as the news is considered as highly relevant.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143470633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-19DOI: 10.1177/00936502251318617
Nicholas A. Palomares, Rebecca Baumler, Moo Sun Kim, Arjana Almaneih, Maya Dennis, Preetina Ramkissoon, Gianna Rivas, Alyssa Sanchez, Anish Sankhavaram, Rachel Shore, Caroline Van Cleve, Major Wheless
We experimentally manipulated social media affordances theoretically linked to cyberbullies’ anonymity using hypothetical scenarios taking advantage of the diverse ways people get bullied by someone they can identify versus an anonymous cyberbully. Nine different social media platforms–from TikTok, Twitter, and Tumblr to Instagram, iMessage, and Email–manipulated a cyberbully’s anonymity to uncover pathways known to precipitate poor mental health in a 2 × 9 design. Inferring upward-mobility and highlight-difference goals did not predict affective outcomes; whereas inferring insecurity goals predicted increased hurt and negative emotion regardless of anonymity but inferring personal-attack goals was more hurtful, emotionally negative, and severe when victims knew the bully. Second, inferring the goals predicted decreased coping via increased use of motivation (but not identity) uncertainty reduction strategies, especially if the bully was anonymous. Third, inferences of the insecurity and personal attack goals predicted decreased attraction to the cyberbully via increased coping if the bully was anonymous.
{"title":"Goal Understanding and Anonymous Cyberbullying in Social Media: How Victims Interpret, Cope with, and Respond to Hurtful Messages Online","authors":"Nicholas A. Palomares, Rebecca Baumler, Moo Sun Kim, Arjana Almaneih, Maya Dennis, Preetina Ramkissoon, Gianna Rivas, Alyssa Sanchez, Anish Sankhavaram, Rachel Shore, Caroline Van Cleve, Major Wheless","doi":"10.1177/00936502251318617","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251318617","url":null,"abstract":"We experimentally manipulated social media affordances theoretically linked to cyberbullies’ anonymity using hypothetical scenarios taking advantage of the diverse ways people get bullied by someone they can identify versus an anonymous cyberbully. Nine different social media platforms–from TikTok, Twitter, and Tumblr to Instagram, iMessage, and Email–manipulated a cyberbully’s anonymity to uncover pathways known to precipitate poor mental health in a 2 × 9 design. Inferring upward-mobility and highlight-difference goals did not predict affective outcomes; whereas inferring insecurity goals predicted increased hurt and negative emotion regardless of anonymity but inferring personal-attack goals was more hurtful, emotionally negative, and severe when victims knew the bully. Second, inferring the goals predicted decreased coping via increased use of motivation (but not identity) uncertainty reduction strategies, especially if the bully was anonymous. Third, inferences of the insecurity and personal attack goals predicted decreased attraction to the cyberbully via increased coping if the bully was anonymous.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143452372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-31DOI: 10.1177/00936502251316927
Timothy R. Levine, Kim B. Serota
A reanalysis of Bond and DePaulo’s meta-analysis of deception detection accuracy from the perspective of truth-default theory is reported, focusing on truth bias, the veracity effect, and the implications of the ubiquitous 50%–50% base rates used in primary experiments. Unlike Bond and DePaulo, we examine the relationships among truth bias, the veracity effect, and overall accuracy providing new insights from old data. Truth bias is substantially positively correlated ( r = .88) with accuracy for truths, negatively correlated ( r = −.88) with accuracy for lies, uncorrelated with overall accuracy ( r < .03), and functionally isomorphic with the veracity effect. When accuracies for truths and lies are reported separately, the results may reflect truth bias, message veracity, or both. Substantially improved overall accuracy would be expected with more realistic base rates and levels of truth bias. The reanalyzed data highlight insights from truth-default theory and suggest that the 54% accuracy claim needs to be contextualized.
{"title":"A Fresh View of the Veracity Effect in Deception Research: Bond and DePaulo Re-examined","authors":"Timothy R. Levine, Kim B. Serota","doi":"10.1177/00936502251316927","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251316927","url":null,"abstract":"A reanalysis of Bond and DePaulo’s meta-analysis of deception detection accuracy from the perspective of truth-default theory is reported, focusing on truth bias, the veracity effect, and the implications of the ubiquitous 50%–50% base rates used in primary experiments. Unlike Bond and DePaulo, we examine the relationships among truth bias, the veracity effect, and overall accuracy providing new insights from old data. Truth bias is substantially positively correlated ( r = .88) with accuracy for truths, negatively correlated ( r = −.88) with accuracy for lies, uncorrelated with overall accuracy ( r < .03), and functionally isomorphic with the veracity effect. When accuracies for truths and lies are reported separately, the results may reflect truth bias, message veracity, or both. Substantially improved overall accuracy would be expected with more realistic base rates and levels of truth bias. The reanalyzed data highlight insights from truth-default theory and suggest that the 54% accuracy claim needs to be contextualized.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143071750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-24DOI: 10.1177/00936502241311938
Danni Liao, Lisa M. Guntzviller
Guided by goal understanding theory, we investigated how U.S. patients evaluate communication strategies international medical graduates (IMGs) adopt to manage their lack of comprehension of patient idioms. Participants ( N = 569) watched a video of an IMG and a patient interacting in a 3 (verbal: being blunt, feigning comprehension, providing rationale) × 2 (nonverbal: higher, lower immediacy) × 2 (message variations: “out of sorts,” “frog in the throat”) online experiment. Participants inferred IMG goals of understanding the patient and establishing trust most strongly when IMGs provided rationale with higher nonverbal immediacy and least strongly when IMGs feigned comprehension with lower nonverbal immediacy. These inferred goals were positively associated with participants’ evaluations of IMGs and their satisfaction. The findings suggest that patients may integrate verbal and nonverbal behaviors to infer IMGs’ goals, yielding implications for goals theorizing and IMG communication.
{"title":"Patient Evaluation of International Medical Graduates’ Verbal and Nonverbal Strategies to Manage Their Lack of Comprehension: Investigating the Role of Goal Inferences","authors":"Danni Liao, Lisa M. Guntzviller","doi":"10.1177/00936502241311938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502241311938","url":null,"abstract":"Guided by goal understanding theory, we investigated how U.S. patients evaluate communication strategies international medical graduates (IMGs) adopt to manage their lack of comprehension of patient idioms. Participants ( N = 569) watched a video of an IMG and a patient interacting in a 3 (verbal: being blunt, feigning comprehension, providing rationale) × 2 (nonverbal: higher, lower immediacy) × 2 (message variations: “out of sorts,” “frog in the throat”) online experiment. Participants inferred IMG goals of understanding the patient and establishing trust most strongly when IMGs provided rationale with higher nonverbal immediacy and least strongly when IMGs feigned comprehension with lower nonverbal immediacy. These inferred goals were positively associated with participants’ evaluations of IMGs and their satisfaction. The findings suggest that patients may integrate verbal and nonverbal behaviors to infer IMGs’ goals, yielding implications for goals theorizing and IMG communication.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143030922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-11DOI: 10.1177/00936502241311943
Taewoo Kang
This study examines geographic variations in the relationship between social media political curation and political trust. Analyzing survey data from the U.S. state of Michigan, findings reveal a positive relationship between social media political curation and internal political efficacy, which is stronger among rural residents compared to urban counterparts. Moreover, this geographic pattern extends to trust in state government; the positive indirect relationship between social media political curation and trust in state government via increased internal political efficacy is only observed among rural residents. These results highlight social media’s potential as a civic platform that can connect geographically disconnected communities to politics.
{"title":"Empowered by Curation: Spatial Differentiation in the Interrelationship Between Social Media Political Curation, Political Competence, and Trust—The Case of Michigan","authors":"Taewoo Kang","doi":"10.1177/00936502241311943","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502241311943","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines geographic variations in the relationship between social media political curation and political trust. Analyzing survey data from the U.S. state of Michigan, findings reveal a positive relationship between social media political curation and internal political efficacy, which is stronger among rural residents compared to urban counterparts. Moreover, this geographic pattern extends to trust in state government; the positive indirect relationship between social media political curation and trust in state government via increased internal political efficacy is only observed among rural residents. These results highlight social media’s potential as a civic platform that can connect geographically disconnected communities to politics.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"204 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142961447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}