RAPID Proposal: Psychological distance, risk perceptions and communication behaviors during the Ebola outbreak

本项目评估美国公众对埃博拉疫情的看法，以及这些看法如何影响他们与疫情相关的传播行为，如信息寻求、信息共享和信息处理。该项目侧重于公众对这一问题的重要性和个人相关性的看法，以及他们对疫情的情绪反应，以及他们是否认为这一问题在心理上是遥远和抽象的，对这些观点的影响程度。这项研究涉及一项基于1000名具有全国代表性的参与者的调查，这些参与者被随机分配到两种实验条件下（一种强调美国没有已知病例或埃博拉传播，另一种则避免这一事实）。这种实验调查设计的使用提供了一种独特的能力来理解为什么三分之一的美国成年人（在2014年9月的一项调查中测量）担心美国将会爆发一场大规模的埃博拉疫情。参与调查的人来自一个学术质量的、基于概率的在线小组。除了更多地了解与埃博拉疫情有关的风险认知这一特定问题的价值外，该项目的研究结果还将为与风险问题相关的沟通信息的设计提供信息，这些风险问题通常被美国公众认为在心理上是遥远的，如气候变化和人口过剩。研究变量影响风险传播行为的具体机制也将为旨在鼓励公众更多地参与风险信息的传播运动提供信息。在此过程中，拟议的研究将整合社会心理学和风险传播学的理论，探索心理距离在向公众传播通报新出现的公共卫生风险方面的效用。

This project assesses the American public's views of the Ebola outbreak and how these views influence their communication behaviors related to the outbreak such as information seeking, information sharing and information processing. The project focuses on the degree to which such views are influenced by the public's perceptions regarding the importance and personal relevance of this issue, as well as their emotional responses to the outbreak and whether they perceive this issue as psychologically distant and abstract. The research involves a survey, based on a nationally representative sample of 1,000 participants, who are randomly assigned to two experimental conditions (one emphasizing that there are no known cases or Ebola transmission in the United States, and the other that avoids this fact). The use of this experimental survey design provides a unique capacity to understand why one third of the U.S. adults (measured in a September 2014 survey) are concerned that there will be a large Ebola outbreak in the U.S. The participants in the surveys are being drawn from an academic-quality, probability-based online panel. In addition to the issue-specific value of knowing more about risk perceptions related to the Ebola outbreak, findings from this project will inform the design of communication messages related to risk issues that are often perceived to be psychologically distant by the American public, such as climate change and overpopulation. The specific mechanisms through which the study variables influence risk communication behaviors will also inform communication campaigns aimed at encouraging greater public engagement with risk information. In doing so, the proposed research will integrate theory from social psychology and risk communication to explore the utility of psychological distance in informing public communication about emerging public health risks.