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Using General Messages to Persuade on a Politicized Scientific Issue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2022

Jon Green Open the ORCID record for Jon Green [Opens in a new window] ,
James N. Druckman ,
Matthew A. Baum ,
David Lazer Open the ORCID record for David Lazer [Opens in a new window] ,
Katherine Ognyanova Open the ORCID record for Katherine Ognyanova [Opens in a new window] ,
Matthew D. Simonson Open the ORCID record for Matthew D. Simonson [Opens in a new window] ,
Jennifer Lin Open the ORCID record for Jennifer Lin [Opens in a new window] ,
Mauricio Santillana Open the ORCID record for Mauricio Santillana [Opens in a new window]  and
Roy H. Perlis Open the ORCID record for Roy H. Perlis [Opens in a new window]
Jon Green*
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston, USA Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, USA
James N. Druckman
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Evanston, USA
Matthew A. Baum
Affiliation:
Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, USA
David Lazer
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston, USA
Katherine Ognyanova
Affiliation:
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, USA
Matthew D. Simonson
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
Jennifer Lin
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Evanston, USA
Mauricio Santillana
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
Roy H. Perlis
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: jo.green@northeastern.edu
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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.

Keywords

COVID-19survey experimentscience communicationpublic healthmoral valuesdescriptive normsmachine learning
Type
Letter
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , April 2023 , pp. 698 - 706
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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