ABSTRACT

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of sources of information on COVID-19 risk perceptions. Using data from a representative sample of the Portuguese population (N = 1,411) collected early in the pandemic, we find that while media sources were more frequently used, scientific sources played a more important role on perceived personal and societal-level risks; higher trust in scientific sources associated with increased risk perceptions (i.e., amplified perceived risk), trust in social media associated with dismissing personal threat (i.e., attenuated perceived risk). These findings suggest that people’s relations with science were determinant factors in risk perceptions, and dimensions that measure these deserve further investigation.

摘要

本研究的目的是调查信息来源对 COVID-19 风险认知的影响。使用在大流行早期收集的葡萄牙人口代表性样本（N = 1,411）的数据，我们发现虽然媒体资源被更频繁地使用，但科学资源在感知个人和社会层面风险方面发挥了更重要的作用；对科学来源的更高信任与增加的风险感知（即，放大的感知风险）相关，对社交媒体的信任与消除个人威胁（即，减弱的感知风险）相关。这些发现表明，人们与科学的关系是风险认知的决定性因素，衡量这些因素的维度值得进一步研究。