TY - JOUR
T1 - Social Comparison Framing in Health News and Its Effect on Perceptions of Group Risk
AU - Bigman, Cabral A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by NCI grant 5P20CA095856, the Russell Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowship and the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, and the Yerby Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The research does not reflect the views of the granting organizations. The author thanks Joseph Cappella, Robert Hornik, Michael Delli Carpini, K. Viswanath, Shawnika Hull, Rebekah Nagler, Ashley Sanders-Jackson, Damian Thomas, and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this article.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - News about health disparities often compares health risks faced by different demographic groups. Does this social comparison produce a contrast effect? It was hypothesized that when two racial groups are compared, people would perceive the relatively more at-risk group to be more, and the less at-risk group to be less, at-risk than if the same risk information was presented without the comparative reference group. Three experiments with Black and White respondents tested effects of intergroup social comparison framing (SCF) on perceptions of risk for sexually transmitted infections and skin cancer. SCF (including one White and two Black disparity frames) did not raise respondents' perceived risk regarding the more at-risk racial group, but consistently lowered respondents' risk ratings for the less at-risk racial group. The finding that the same statistic was perceived differently in comparative and noncomparative contexts underscores the importance of considering effects of communication about disparities.
AB - News about health disparities often compares health risks faced by different demographic groups. Does this social comparison produce a contrast effect? It was hypothesized that when two racial groups are compared, people would perceive the relatively more at-risk group to be more, and the less at-risk group to be less, at-risk than if the same risk information was presented without the comparative reference group. Three experiments with Black and White respondents tested effects of intergroup social comparison framing (SCF) on perceptions of risk for sexually transmitted infections and skin cancer. SCF (including one White and two Black disparity frames) did not raise respondents' perceived risk regarding the more at-risk racial group, but consistently lowered respondents' risk ratings for the less at-risk racial group. The finding that the same statistic was perceived differently in comparative and noncomparative contexts underscores the importance of considering effects of communication about disparities.
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U2 - 10.1080/10410236.2012.745043
DO - 10.1080/10410236.2012.745043
M3 - Article
C2 - 23829419
AN - SCOPUS:84891832042
SN - 1041-0236
VL - 29
SP - 267
EP - 280
JO - Health communication
JF - Health communication
IS - 3
ER -