The Interplay of Jargon, Motivation, and Fatigue While Processing Covid-19 Crisis Communication Over Time

Dados Bibliográficos

ID18975583
AutoresH C Shulman (0000-0001-7525-8119, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA, autor correspondente), Olivia M Bullock (0000-0001-5403-7149, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA), Elizabeth E Riggs (0000-0001-6683-7952, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA)
Ano2021
Volume40
Fascículo5-6
Páginas546-573
Data de publicação2021-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Language and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0261-927X • E-ISSN: 1552-6526
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0261927x211043100
OpenAlexW3205521521
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas18
Referências citadas34

Using the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this three-wave experiment ( N = 1,830) examined whether a public health crisis motivates people to engage with complicated information about the virus in the form of jargon. Results revealed that although the presence of jargon negatively impacted message acceptance for topics that were not particularly urgent (flood risk and federal risk policy), the presence of jargon within the COVID-19 topic condition did not affect message perceptions—at first. In subsequent waves of data collection, however, it was found that the influence of jargon strengthened over time within the COVID-19 topic condition. Specifically, jargon began to exert a stronger influence on processing fluency despite the continued urgency of the topic. This finding suggests that motivation to process COVID-19 related information declined over time. Theoretical contributions for language, processing fluency, and persuasion are offered and practical implications for health, risk, science, and crisis communicators are advanced

Disease · Fluency · Jargon · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Pandemic · Persuasion · Political science · Public relations · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Media Influence and Health · Medicine · Psychology · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Social Psychology