Trusting the Facts: The Role of Framing, News Media as a (Trusted) Source, and Opinion Resonance for Perceived Truth in Statistical Statements

Elina Lindgren; Torun Lindholm; Rens Vliegenthart; Hajo G. Boomgaarden; Alyt Damstra; Jesper Strömbäck; Yariv Tsfati

doi:10.1177/10776990221117117

Trusting the Facts: The Role of Framing, News Media as a (Trusted) Source, and Opinion Resonance for Perceived Truth in Statistical Statements

Elina Lindgren, Torun Lindholm, Rens Vliegenthart, Hajo G. Boomgaarden, Alyt Damstra, Jesper Strömbäck, Yariv Tsfati

Department of Communication

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Scholars have raised concerns that on many issues, citizens are reluctant to trust factual evidence and statistics. One factor that has been shown to impact the perceived truth in statistics is how they are presented, where negatively framed statistics are perceived as truer than positive. This study explores when this bias applies and not. Results from a survey experiment confirm the presence of a negativity bias in truth perceptions, but also that effects are heterogeneous and moderated by, in particular, the recipients’ preexisting opinions. These findings provide valuable information to public actors responsible for disseminating factual information to diverse publics.

Original language	English
Journal	Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990221117117
State	Accepted/In press - 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) for the advancements of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Grant No: M18-0310:1). The authors are also grateful to the editors and the anonymous reviewers of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly for their feedback and comments on the manuscript, and to the Laboratory of Opinion Research (LORE) at University of Gothenburg, for their assistance with data collection.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 AEJMC.

Keywords

equivalence framing
media trust
negativity bias
opinion resonance
perceived truth in statistical statements

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Communication

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10.1177/10776990221117117

Cite this

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title = "Trusting the Facts: The Role of Framing, News Media as a (Trusted) Source, and Opinion Resonance for Perceived Truth in Statistical Statements",

abstract = "Scholars have raised concerns that on many issues, citizens are reluctant to trust factual evidence and statistics. One factor that has been shown to impact the perceived truth in statistics is how they are presented, where negatively framed statistics are perceived as truer than positive. This study explores when this bias applies and not. Results from a survey experiment confirm the presence of a negativity bias in truth perceptions, but also that effects are heterogeneous and moderated by, in particular, the recipients{\textquoteright} preexisting opinions. These findings provide valuable information to public actors responsible for disseminating factual information to diverse publics.",

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author = "Elina Lindgren and Torun Lindholm and Rens Vliegenthart and Boomgaarden, {Hajo G.} and Alyt Damstra and Jesper Str{\"o}mb{\"a}ck and Yariv Tsfati",

note = "Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) for the advancements of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Grant No: M18-0310:1). The authors are also grateful to the editors and the anonymous reviewers of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly for their feedback and comments on the manuscript, and to the Laboratory of Opinion Research (LORE) at University of Gothenburg, for their assistance with data collection. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 AEJMC.",

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language = "English",

journal = "Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly",

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AU - Vliegenthart, Rens

AU - Boomgaarden, Hajo G.

AU - Damstra, Alyt

AU - Strömbäck, Jesper

AU - Tsfati, Yariv

N1 - Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) for the advancements of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Grant No: M18-0310:1). The authors are also grateful to the editors and the anonymous reviewers of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly for their feedback and comments on the manuscript, and to the Laboratory of Opinion Research (LORE) at University of Gothenburg, for their assistance with data collection. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 AEJMC.

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N2 - Scholars have raised concerns that on many issues, citizens are reluctant to trust factual evidence and statistics. One factor that has been shown to impact the perceived truth in statistics is how they are presented, where negatively framed statistics are perceived as truer than positive. This study explores when this bias applies and not. Results from a survey experiment confirm the presence of a negativity bias in truth perceptions, but also that effects are heterogeneous and moderated by, in particular, the recipients’ preexisting opinions. These findings provide valuable information to public actors responsible for disseminating factual information to diverse publics.

AB - Scholars have raised concerns that on many issues, citizens are reluctant to trust factual evidence and statistics. One factor that has been shown to impact the perceived truth in statistics is how they are presented, where negatively framed statistics are perceived as truer than positive. This study explores when this bias applies and not. Results from a survey experiment confirm the presence of a negativity bias in truth perceptions, but also that effects are heterogeneous and moderated by, in particular, the recipients’ preexisting opinions. These findings provide valuable information to public actors responsible for disseminating factual information to diverse publics.

KW - equivalence framing

KW - media trust

KW - negativity bias

KW - opinion resonance

KW - perceived truth in statistical statements

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Trusting the Facts: The Role of Framing, News Media as a (Trusted) Source, and Opinion Resonance for Perceived Truth in Statistical Statements

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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