Runze, Leontina (2022) Impact of trust in the government, political ideology and uncertainty communication on trust in COVID-19 related scientific information. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Society and politicians rely on scientific knowledge when managing challenges such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. As important as the acquisition of scientific knowledge is the communication to society such that it is perceived as trustworthy and can be used to make informed decisions. Presently, we investigated how different factors such as communication source, uncertainty communication, prior trust in government, and political ideology influence the level of trust in COVID-19 related scientific information. We conducted a 2 (communicated uncertainty vs. no uncertainty communicated) x 3 (source: government vs. scientists vs. scientists via social media) between-subjects study. We manipulated the communication source and uncertainty communication in a message about the effectiveness rate of a booster shot. Additionally, we investigate the effects of trust in the government and political ideology. Results of the analysis showed no significant impact of communication source or uncertainty on the trust level in the message. However, high trust in the government and placing oneself in the more liberal/left continuum predicted higher trust levels in the communicated message. Therefore, our findings support prior research concerning trust in the government and political ideology. However, future research assessing another topic is needed to examine the effect of communication sources and uncertainty.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Supervisor name: | Bles, A.M. van der |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Mar 2022 14:56 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Mar 2022 14:56 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/297 |
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