Trusting the Facts: The Role of Framing, News Media as a (Trusted) Source, and Opin-ion Resonance for Perceived Truth in Statistical Statements

Autor(en)
Hajo Boomgaarden, Elina Lindgren, Torun Lindholm, Rens Vliegenthart, Alyt Damstra, Jesper Strömbäck, Yariv Tsfati
Abstrakt

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(en)
Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
Externe Organisation(en)
University of Gothenburg, Stockholm University, University of Amsterdam (UvA), University of Haifa
Journal
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
Band
101
Seiten
981-1004
Anzahl der Seiten
24
ISSN
1077-6990
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990221117117
Publikationsdatum
08-2022
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
508007 Kommunikationswissenschaft
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Communication
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/c24d0e8a-3d57-4403-8c9e-8bbd8b5494df