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Using General Messages to Persuade on a Politicized Scientific Issue

2022; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 53; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0007123422000424

1469-2112

Jon Green, James Druckman, Matthew Baum, David Lazer, Katherine Ognyanova, Matthew Simonson, Jennifer Lin, Mauricio Santillana, Roy H. Perlis,

Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

Abstract Politics and science have become increasingly intertwined. Salient scientific issues, such as climate change, evolution, and stem-cell research, become politicized, pitting partisans against one another. This creates a challenge of how to effectively communicate on such issues. Recent work emphasizes the need for tailored messages to specific groups. Here, we focus on whether generalized messages also can matter. We do so in the context of a highly polarized issue: extreme COVID-19 vaccine resistance. The results show that science-based, moral frame, and social norm messages move behavioral intentions, and do so by the same amount across the population (that is, homogeneous effects). Counter to common portrayals, the politicization of science does not preclude using broad messages that resonate with the entire population.