Congruent or Conflicted? The Effects of Prevalence and Valence Cues in Online Comments on Perceived Descriptive Norms Regarding e-Cigarette Use
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Previous studies have investigated how the valence of comments – whether they support or oppose the reported issue – and the prevalence cue in comments – whether others engage in the reported behavior or not – affect norm perception among those who are exposed to online news with comments. The present study advances this research by testing the combined effects of prevalence and valence cues on readers’ perceived descriptive norms through the lens of the theory of evolutionary norm formation and the exemplification theory. The e-cigarette use in Hong Kong was chosen as the context due to its controversy. A 2 (Prevalence cue: high e-cigarette-use norm vs. low e-cigarette-use norm) × 2 (Valence cue: pro-e-cigarette vs. anti-e-cigarette) between-subjects experiment (N = 955) was conducted. Results indicated that comments suggesting a high prevalence of e-cigarette use were perceived as unrepresentative of the public, rendering the pro- or anti-e-cigarette valence of the comments irrelevant for inferring descriptive norms.
Source: Health Communication
Author: Fangcao Lu
Institution: Education University of Hong Kong
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Hong Kong Polytechnic University
OpenAlex ID: W4413493632