Trusting the Facts: The Role of Framing, News Media as a (Trusted) Source, and Opin-ion Resonance for Perceived Truth in Statistical Statements
- Author(s)
- Hajo Boomgaarden, Elina Lindgren, Torun Lindholm, Rens Vliegenthart, Alyt Damstra, Jesper Strömbäck, Yariv Tsfati
- Abstract
Scholars have raised concerns that on many issues, citizens are reluctant to trust factual evidence and statistics. One factor that has been shown to impact the perceived truth in statistics is how they are presented, where negatively framed statistics are perceived as truer than positive. This study explores when this bias applies and not. Results from a survey experiment confirm the presence of a negativity bias in truth perceptions, but also that effects are heterogeneous and moderated by, in particular, the recipients’ preexisting opinions. These findings provide valuable information to public actors responsible for disseminating factual information to diverse publics.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Communication
- External organisation(s)
- University of Gothenburg, Stockholm University, University of Amsterdam (UvA), University of Haifa
- Journal
- Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
- Volume
- 101
- Pages
- 981-1004
- No. of pages
- 24
- ISSN
- 1077-6990
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990221117117
- Publication date
- 08-2022
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 508007 Communication science
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Communication
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/c24d0e8a-3d57-4403-8c9e-8bbd8b5494df