How Do Gain-Loss Frames and Cultural Arguments Persuade? Designing Effective Messages to Weaken College Students' Binge-Drinking Intentions.

To design effective health messages, this study investigates the effects of gain-loss framing and relevant moderating effects in the context of college students' alcohol use. Specifically, based on an online experiment, we tested the moderation effects of message-sidedness and binge-drinking behaviors using a mediation model in which the association between gain-loss framing and behavioral intentions is mediated by attitudes toward binge-drinking. Four hundred thirty-four Korean college students participated in this study. Hayes' PROCESS Macro for SPSS was employed for the analysis. The results show that loss-framing significantly increased participants' unfavorable attitudes toward binge-drinking in the one-sided message condition. Moreover, attitudes toward binge-drinking were more significantly associated with behavioral intentions to binge-drink among heavy drinkers than among non-heavy drinkers. Our findings suggest important theoretical and practical implications for the development of message-framing strategies in health campaigns designed to prevent college students' binge-drinking in collectivistic societies where the cultural meaning of drinking extends beyond the individual realm to the larger social context.

Relationship of Exposure to Contradictory Information and Information Insufficiency to Decision-Making About HPV Vaccination Among South Korean College Women.

In this study, we investigated how exposure to contradictory messages about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine affects female South Korean college students' vaccination decisions. Specifically, we focused on the relationship between exposure to contradictory messages, current knowledge, and information insufficiency that may affect participants' confusion and decision-making about vaccination. A percentile bootstrap method and pairwise comparison tests in structural equation modeling were employed. Exposure to contradictory messages significantly and negatively affected current knowledge of the HPV vaccine. Although current knowledge significantly and negatively affected confusion around the vaccine, information insufficiency failed to predict it. The vaccine confusion significantly and positively affected decisional conflicts, which, in turn, decreased the behavioral intentions to vaccinate. Additionally, the results showed how the participants' altruistic orientations and perceived stigma moderated the associations among the variables. The findings have theoretical and practical implications for future research investigating the effects of vaccine-related information on young adult women's decision-making about vaccination, particularly in cultural contexts where the HPV vaccine uptake rates are low.

Multilevel causal attributions on transboundary risk: Effects on attributions of responsibility, psychological distance, and policy support.

This study used two randomized experiments in a prospective design (Study 1 N = 297, Study 2 N = 296) to examine how multilevel causal attribution dimensions (internal vs. external to an individual or a country) shape domestic and foreign policy support to counter transboundary risk. Results from Study 1 and 2 showed that external-country (vs. internal-country) causal attribution reduced perceptions of internal-country attributions of responsibility, which had a cross-lagged effect on support for domestic-industry policies to mitigate the risk. In contrast, perceptions of external-country attributions of responsibility increased support for foreign policies in a 2-week follow up. This study offers theoretical insights into the demarcation of multilevel causal attribution dimensions in studying media framing effects. It also highlights some important causal mechanisms of how media frames shape public support for policies aimed at transboundary risk mitigation.

Beyond Wishful Thinking during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Hope Reduces the Effects of Death Arousal on Hostility toward Outgroups among Conservative and Liberal Media Users for COVID-19 Information.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made death more salient to individuals, which has partly contributed to the amplification of hostility toward others who have different perspectives from oneself. Recognizing that the politicization of COVID-19 and the resulting polarization have become increasingly critical issues, this study investigates how death-related thinking and hope about the pandemic can affect hostility toward outgroups as well as how conservative and liberal media usages moderate the indirect effects of hope. An online survey experiment of people in the U.S. (N = 759) during the pandemic showed that death arousal reduced hope and that these low levels of hope exacerbated hostility toward outgroups in the pandemic context, confirming the positive impact of hope. Importantly, however, our study did not show that hope had a beneficial impact for heavy conservative media users.

Defeating Merchants of Doubt: Subjective certainty and self-affirmation ameliorate attitude polarization via partisan motivated reasoning.

Informed by uncertainty-identity theory, this study tested the polarizing effect of partisan-led politicization of science and ways to combat it. Using a national sample of South Koreans (N = 840), our online experiment found that when partisan elites, as opposed to scientists (or civic activists), spearheaded politicization, attitude polarization emerged via partisan motivated reasoning. Such polarizing effects of party cues did not persist when subjective certainty and self-affirmation enhanced the level of certainty partisans felt about their surroundings and themselves. These patterns proved consistent across multiple scientific issues, including climate change, genetically modified foods, and algae blooms. The implications of the findings are discussed in light of how to attenuate the polarizing effect of partisan-led politicization through the lens of social identity approaches. Given that this study provides one of the first pieces of evidence on the topic outside the Western context, the advantages of using a South Korean sample are noted.

Risk Information Seeking and Processing About Particulate Air Pollution in South Korea: The Roles of Cultural Worldview.

This study integrates cultural theory of risk into the risk information seeking and processing model in the context of particulate air pollution in South Korea. Specifically, it examines how cultural worldviews (hierarchy, individualism, egalitarianism, and fatalism) influence the way people interpret risk about an environmental risk, which may in turn promote or deter their information seeking and processing about the risk. An online survey (N = 645) showed that egalitarianism was positively associated with perceptions of societal and personal risks, affective responses toward the risk, and informational subjective norms. Perceived societal risk, in particular, mediated the effect of egalitarianism on information insufficiency. Moreover, cultural worldview was a significant moderator of the relationships between information insufficiency and risk information seeking and processing. The positive relationship between information insufficiency and information seeking grew stronger with increasing egalitarianism. In contrast, the negative relationship between information insufficiency and heuristic processing was strengthened with increasing hierarchy. This study extends prior theories and models in risk communication by addressing the roles of cultural worldview, an important individual difference factor in interpreting environmental risks.

The Radiation Problem and Its Solution from a Health Communication Perspective.

This paper observes both foreign and national discussions on preexisting radiation communication and attempts to find out what it takes to ensure that discussion concerning radiation leads to participation of and trust-building with members of society while considering cultural aspects. When analyzing Korean studies on health risk communication concerning radiation which utilize the frame of foreign literature, Korean studies can be categorized into one of the following themes: different risk perceptions between experts and the general public, discussion on the effects of the framing of radiation messages and media coverage, and research discussing the social implications of the dangers of radiation and the need for effective communication. These study results can be better explained when integrated with Korean social cultural dimensions. The "boiling pot effect" towards risk issues, egalitarian perceptions, escalation of ideological opposition and biased reasoning, and so on are especially major influences. Communication addressing radiological risks must foremost be open and able to mitigate distrust, must give the general public a chance to judge for themselves to prevent stigmatization, and, through the use of media and public education, must make efforts to prevent the proliferation of needless anxiety. Using literature research, this paper discusses possible ways to improve the effect of future health risk communication concerning radiation.