Persuasive Impact of Calls to “Do Your Own Research”

Sedona Chinn, Ariel Hasell, Anqi Shao

AEJMC 2024 — Extended Abstract WORK IN PROGRESS

  • Sedona Chinn

    schinn@wisc.edu

    Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • Ariel Hasell

    hasell@umich.edu

    Communication and Media, University of Michigan

  • Anqi Shao

    anqi.shao@wisc.edu

    Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Calls to “do your own research” (DYOR) have provoked concerns that these messages lead to misinformation and conspiracies. This experiment tests how DYOR messages persuade via credibility, affect, and reducing reactance. Using DYOR messages in different ways activates different persuasive mechanisms, which affect science attitudes and information seeking. These novel findings explain how calls to DYOR persuade individuals of (in)accurate science beliefs. Additional data is being collected.