Effective public communications have been proposed as a remedy for citizens’ distrust in government. Recent studies pointed to the emotional effect of symbolic elements, entangled in government public communications (e.g., logos, images, and celebrities). Still, they did not examine the interaction between these symbols and the substantive information in communications about bureaucracies’ performance and policies. Exploring this interaction is important for understanding the theoretical mechanisms underlying the effect of symbolic communication on citizens’ trust. Also, it is essential to assess symbols’ potency to unduly compensate for unfavorable or logically unpersuasive information, and enable public organizations to escape justified public criticism. Building on the social psychology Elaboration Likelihood Model, I theorize that symbols may increase citizens’ trust by conducing citizens to pay less attention to logically unpersuasive information, and thus offsetting its negative effect. I test this indirect mechanism via a large survey experiment, focusing on the Israeli Environment Protection Ministry. The experimental results support the research hypotheses and suggest that the effect of symbolic elements is stronger when communications include logically unpersuasive information. I discuss the implications of these findings for democratic responsiveness and accountability.

中文翻译：

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政府公共传播能否引起过度信任？探索通信中符号与实质性信息之间的相互作用

有效的公共交流已被提议作为公民对政府不信任的补救措施。最近的研究指出了与政府公共传播（例如，标志、图像和名人）纠缠在一起的象征元素的情感影响。尽管如此，他们并没有研究这些符号与有关官僚机构绩效和政策的交流中的实质性信息之间的相互作用。探索这种相互作用对于理解象征性传播对公民信任影响的理论机制很重要。此外，必须评估符号的效力，以过度补偿不利或逻辑上没有说服力的信息，并使公共组织能够逃避正当的公众批评。建立在社会心理学阐述可能性模型的基础上，我的理论是，符号可以通过引导公民减少对逻辑上不具说服力的信息的关注来增加公民的信任，从而抵消其负面影响。我通过一项大型调查实验测试了这种间接机制，重点是以色列环境保护部。实验结果支持了研究假设，并表明当交流中包含逻辑上不具说服力的信息时，符号元素的影响会更强。我讨论了这些发现对民主响应和问责制的影响。实验结果支持了研究假设，并表明当交流中包含逻辑上不具说服力的信息时，符号元素的影响会更强。我讨论了这些发现对民主响应和问责制的影响。实验结果支持了研究假设，并表明当交流中包含逻辑上不具说服力的信息时，符号元素的影响会更强。我讨论了这些发现对民主响应和问责制的影响。