This study examined the influences of perceived distance to communicator on the effects of aggressive style (i.e. personal attacks and intense languages) in communicating scientific issues such as COVID-19 to the public. With a multi-site experiment (N = 464), we found that aggression led to a heightened violation of expected social norm regarding communication styles. However, the interpretation of violation varied depending on the individual’s perceived distance to the communicator. Close distance articulated the urgency and severity of COVID-19 risks conveyed with aggression, which further increased compliance with the message. Far distance perception amplified aggression’s negative influence on writer likeability. The findings showed that aggressive communication may generate positive outcomes when dealing with public understanding of scientific issues such as COVID-19, but communicators need to build a closer connection with their audience.

这项研究研究了在向公众传播科学问题（例如COVID-19）时，与传播者的感知距离对攻击性风格（即人身攻击和激烈的语言）的影响。通过多站点实验（N = 464），我们发现，侵略导致对交流风格的预期社会规范的违背行为进一步加剧。但是，对侵犯的解释取决于个人与传播者的距离。近距离表明了侵略性传达的COVID-19风险的紧迫性和严重性，这进一步提高了对该信息的遵守程度。远距离感知放大了侵略性对作家相似度的负面影响。研究结果表明，积极的交流在处理公众对科学问题（例如COVID-19）的理解时可能会产生积极的结果，但交流者需要与听众建立更紧密的联系。