Humor and Fear—Two Sides of the Same Coin

Experimental Evidence on Humor Appeals in Health Communication Related to Childhood Vaccination

Bibliographic Data

ID22081074
AuthorsFlorian Fischer (0000-0002-4388-1245, University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten, corresponding author), Franziska Carow (Bielefeld University), Stefanie Gillitzer (0000-0003-2584-8617, Bielefeld University)
Year2021
Volume9
Pages649507-649507
Publication date2021-04-27
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2296-2565 • E-ISSN: 2296-2565
PublisherFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fpubh.2021.649507
PMID33987162
OpenAlexW3157791575
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited35

Until now, health communication has largely failed to debunk fears and caveats related to vaccination. This study aims to investigate the effects of different text types used in health communication in an experimental study design. A neutrally formulated text was compared to a humorous text using the formula of a fairytale. Overall, the study indicates no additional value in using the humorous format as an innovative and target-group-oriented approach to inform readers about scientific evidence related to vaccination. Although the effects of the two text types do not differ, the credibility of the neutrally formulated text was much more likely to be judged as high. This indicates that the perception of credibility is not the only criterion in health communication leading to knowledge gains and changes in health-related attitudes and behaviors

Credibility · Epistemology · Health communication · Perception · Persuasion · Scientific evidence · Source credibility · Vaccination · Communication · Humor Studies and Applications · Mathematics · Media Influence and Health · Medicine · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Social Psychology

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