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Misinformation about climate change is a consequential societal issue, causing polarization and reduced support for climate action. However, the seriousness of the problem does not preclude non-serious solutions. There are numerous potential benefits to humor as a strategy to counter misinformation, such as attracting attention and engaging disengaged audiences. This paper describes a humorous serious game--"Cranky Uncle"--developed in the U.S. to inoculate players against climate misinformation. The game combines psychological research into active inoculation, critical-thinking work on misleading rhetorical techniques, communication research into cartoon debunking, and gamification. The game's cartoon humor and the creative potential of active inoculation lends it to classroom applications; educators have thus used classroom activities to complement the game in order to improve students' climate literacy and critical-thinking abilities. We present several qualitative U.S.-based case studies, in formal English-speaking tertiary classrooms and informal public education settings, to illustrate the utility of a humorous, game-based approach to building resilience against climate misinformation. The approaches adopted in our case studies are offered as a model for other educators looking to use interactive games to teach critical thinking.

The current study has three main purposes: to examine 1) the impact of theory-driven corrective messages using individual vs. collective frames on information-seeking intention 2) the mediating role of risk perceptions and 3) the moderating role of reflection and gender. Our findings from a randomized experimental study and Hayes' moderated, moderated mediation model show collective frames were associated with high-risk perceptions among women, which in turn led to higher information seeking intention. The second moderator reveals that people who scored higher on reflection were more willing to seek information. Our findings have critical implications for misinformation research by demonstrating the importance of theoretically driven messages in understanding misperceptions as well as people's information seeking behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Although Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is the most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted infection in the USA, much controversy exists with respect to HPV vaccination, especially among parents of adolescents. Previous research has shown that exemplars in the media influence public opinion estimates about controversial social issues. However, little is known about the underlying psychological processes of how exemplars influence public opinion formation. The purpose of this paper is to systematically explore such psychological processes based on the projection theory. To this end, the important yet controversial public health issue, the mandatory HPV vaccination, was chosen. Design/methodology/approach: A two-factor (exemplar vs proportion), between-subject experiment was conducted using online newspaper articles as main stimuli. A total of 138 participants completed the study. The analytical framework comprised the Sobel test with the Bootstrap method and a series of Ordinary Least Square hierarchical regression analyses. Findings: The higher the proportion of exemplars against the HPV vaccination in a news article was, the greater the number of individuals who became opposed to it was. And the high personal opposition translated into negative public opinion change estimation. Originality/value: The findings indicate that news exemplars may influence individuals' personal opinion formation, and, in turn, contribute to their estimations of future public opinion climate, as suggested by the projection theory. Theoretical, methodological and practical implications for journalists, health educators and policy makers are discussed.

Introduction: Visual attention is a crucial mechanism in health messaging and campaign persuasiveness. Little is known about how visual attention may translate into cessation-related outcomes in tobacco public education campaigns.Methods: Using the eye-tracking technology, this study investigated the relationships among visual attention, cognitive and affective message responses, and cessation-related outcomes (readiness to quit, intentions to quit, and intentions to seek cessation information). Four different posters from the Every Try Counts (ETC) campaign were used as message stimuli. A total of 80 adult current smokers participated. The associations between their behavioral eye gaze patterns and self-reported message responses and cessation-related outcomes were examined.Results: Half of the sample (49.4%) were male, and 46.8% were White-with ages ranging from 18 to 36 years old (M = 21.22, SD = 2.86). Roughly 41% were daily smokers, and 78% had attempted quitting in the previous year. When exposed to campaign ads, only fixation on the FDA logo showed consistent positive relationships with cognitive and affective message responses. Mediation analyses revealed significant indirect effects of fixation on the FDA logo on quitting and information-seeking intentions mainly through positive affective message responses.Conclusions: Visual attention to the FDA logo played an important role in the effects of ETC campaign messages.Implications: This study contributes new evidence on the relationship of visual attention, message responses, and ETC campaign outcomes. The current findings suggest that highlighting FDA as a campaign sponsor in the visual display may enhance the effectiveness of FDA tobacco education messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study employed a longitudinal survey experiment with American adults to investigate whether cognitive and emotional appraisals of messages about climate change related health risks would mediate the relationships between participants' individual differences (in political ideology and health) and their perceived harm to self and support for climate change policies. The study found that liberals and people with poorer health evaluated the messages as more useful and interesting and generated more negative emotions toward the negative health consequences of climate change. In turn, they reported higher perceived harm to self from climate change and stronger support for climate policies, compared to conservatives and people with better health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses an unobtrusive eye tracking approach to examine understudied psychological mechanisms – message attention and credibility – when people are exposed to misinformation and correction on social media. We contrast humor versus non-humor correction strategies that point out rhetorical flaws in misinformation regarding the HPV vaccine, which was selected for its relevance and impact on public health. We randomly assigned participants to one of two experimental conditions: humor correction versus non-humor correction. Our analyses revealed that the humor correction increased attention to the image portion of the correction tweet, and this attention indirectly lowered HPV misperceptions by reducing the credibility of the misinformation tweet. The study also found that the non-humor correction outperformed the humor correction in reducing misperceptions via its higher credibility ratings. Practical implications for correcting misinformation on social media are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine psychological mediating mechanisms to promote ocean health among the U.S. public. Ocean acidification (OA) was chosen as the focus, as experts consider it as important as climate change with the same cause of humanity's excessive carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, but it is lesser known. Empathy is a multi-dimensional concept that includes cognitive and emotional aspects. Previous literature argues that environmental empathy can facilitate positive behaviors. We tested the hypothesis that empathy affects beliefs and behavioral intentions regarding ocean health using the Health Belief Model. We found that higher empathy toward ocean health led to higher perceived susceptibility and severity from OA, greater perceived benefits of CO2 emissions reduction, greater perceived barriers, and keener attention to the media. Beliefs and media attention positively influenced behavioral intentions (e.g., willingness to buy a fuel efficient car). Theoretical and practical implications regarding audience targeting and intervention design are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the interplay of depression and different types of e-health interventions on breast cancer patients' perceived healthcare competence, emotional processing, and social well-being over time. The three e-health interventions--Internet Only as a control condition, CHESS (Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System) Only, and CHESS with a Human Mentor, a cancer information specialist--provided varying degrees of interactivity and presence. A total of 328 women with breast cancer participated in one of the three interventions for a 6-month period. Women were further split into two groups based on reported levels of depression. For perceived healthcare competence and social well-being, results revealed significant interaction effects for intervention type by depression over time, such that breast cancer patients with higher levels of depression benefited most from the CHESS with Mentor intervention over the 6-month study period. For emotional processing, depressed cancer patients benefited more from the CHESS with Mentor than the other two interventions, regardless of time. These findings have (a) theoretical implications on how mental health factors can intersect with interactivity and presence to influence psychosocial outcomes, (b) conceptual implications for the role of human interaction within e-health systems, and (c) practical implications for the development of e-health interventions for cancer patients with depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]