ABSTRACT

Contradictory and complex health messages are prevalent in the media and can lead to uncertainty in decision-making. We explore if the theoretical distinction between message contradiction and complexity is manifested in laypersons’ perceptions. U.S. adults (N = 584) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: contradictory messages, complex messages, or no-message control. Participants in the message conditions read contradictory or complex messages and completed measures of perceived contradiction and complexity. All participants completed measures of issue uncertainty and decision uncertainty. The theoretical distinction between contradiction and complexity was not reflected in participants’ perceptions. Although participants rated contradictory messages as more inconsistent than complex messages, the complex messages were not rated as more complex than contradictory messages. Results supported a model in which perceptions of contradiction and complexity give rise to issue uncertainty, leading to decision uncertainty. The unique perceptions and effects of distinct sources of health-related uncertainty need further investigation.

摘要

矛盾和复杂的健康信息在媒体中普遍存在，并可能导致决策的不确定性。我们探讨了信息矛盾和复杂性之间的理论区别是否体现在外行的看法中。美国成年人 (N = 584) 被随机分配到以下三种情况之一：矛盾信息、复杂信息或无信息控制。消息条件的参与者阅读矛盾或复杂的消息，并完成感知矛盾和复杂性的测量。所有参与者都完成了问题不确定性和决策不确定性的测量。矛盾和复杂性之间的理论区别并未反映在参与者的感知中。尽管参与者认为矛盾的信息比复杂的信息更不一致，复杂的信息没有被评为比矛盾的信息更复杂。结果支持了一个模型，在该模型中，对矛盾和复杂性的感知会导致问题的不确定性，从而导致决策的不确定性。健康相关不确定性的不同来源的独特看法和影响需要进一步调查。