Should Scientists Talk About GMOs Nicely? Exploring the Effects of Communication Styles,Source Expertise,and Preexisting Attitude

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of communication styles, source expertise, and audiences’ preexisting attitudes in the contexts of the debate regarding genetically modified organisms. A between-subject experiment (N = 416) was conducted manipulating communication styles (aggressive vs. polite) and the expertise of the communicator (scientist vs. nonscientist) in blog articles. The results showed significant effects of communicator expertise and individuals’ preexisting attitudes on writer likability and message quality, depending on the communication style used. Expectancy violation was found as a significant mediator that explains the differences. These findings provided a plausible explanation for the way in which communication styles work in science communication contexts and offered practical implications for science communicators to communicate more strategically.

Keywords

communication styles GMO debate source expertise aggression politeness expectancy violation theory structural equation modeling (SEM)

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ajzen

(1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211. doi:10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T

Allen

Witt

P. L.

Wheeless

L. R.

(2006). The role of teacher immediacy as a motivational factor in student learning: Using meta-analysis to test a causal model. Communication Education, 55, 21-31. doi:10.1080/03634520500343368

Arnold

Boggs

K. U.

(1989). Interpersonal relationships: Professional communication skills for nurses. Philadelphia, PA: W. B. Saunders.

Blankenship

K. L.

Holtgraves

(2005). The role of different markers of linguistic powerlessness in persuasion. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 24, 3-24. doi:10.1177/0261927X04273034

Braunsberger

Munch

J. M.

(1998). Source expertise versus experience effects in hospital advertising. Journal of Services Marketing, 12, 23-38. doi:10.1108/08876049810202348

Brooks

D. J.

Geer

J. G.

(2007). Beyond negativity: The effects of incivility on the electorate. American Journal of Political Science, 51, 1-16. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2007.00233.x

Brown

Levinson

S. C.

(1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Burgoon

J. K.

Hale

J. L.

(1988). Nonverbal expectancy violations: Model elaboration and application to immediacy behaviors. Communication Monographs, 55, 58-79. doi:10.1080/03637758809376158

Burgoon

J. K.

Walther

J. B.

(1990). Nonverbal expectancies and the evaluative consequences of violations. Human Communication Research, 17, 232-265. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.1990.tb00232.x

10.

Cacioppo

J. T.

Petty

R. E.

Morris

K. J.

(1983). Effects of need for cognition on message evaluation, recall, and persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 805-818. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.45.4.805

11.

Cadaver

(2015, April). 3 Reasons that anti-GMO conspiracy theorists are misinformed idiots. Retrieved from http://www.eyeballcircus.com/3-reasons-that-anti-gmo-conspiracy-theorists-are-misinformed-idiots/

12.

Chaiken

(1980). Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 752-766. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.752

13.

Czapiński

Lewicka

(1979). Dynamics of interpersonal attitudes: Positive–negative asymmetry. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 10, 31-40.

14.

de Vries

R. E.

Bakker-Pieper

Siberg

van Gameren

Vlug

. (2009). The content and dimensionality of communication styles. Communication Research, 36, 178-206. doi:10.1177/0093650208330250

15.

Derville

(2005). Radical activist tactics: Overturning public relations conceptualizations. Public Relations Review, 31, 527-533. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2005.08.012

16.

Erickson

Lind

E. A.

Johnson

B. C.

O’Barr

W. M.

(1978). Speech style and impression formation in a court setting: The effects of “powerful” and “powerless” speech. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 14, 266-279. doi:10.1016/0022-1031(78)90015-X

17.

etc Group. (2016). Genomics & biotechnology. Retrieved from http://www.etcgroup.org/issues/genomics-biotechnology

18.

Fernandez-Cornejo

Wechsler

Livingston

Mitchell

(2014). Genetically engineered crops in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/45179/43668_err162.pdf

19.

Fishbein

(2009). An integrative model for behavioral prediction and its application to health promotion. In DiClemente

R. J.

Crosby

R. A.

Kegler

M. C.

(Eds.), Emerging theories in health promotion practice and research (pp. 215-234). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

20.

Fishbein

Ajzen

(2011). Predicting and changing behavior: The reasoned action approach. New York, NY: Psychology Press.

21.

Funk

Kennedy

(2016, December). Public opinions about genetically modified foods and trust in scientists connected with these foods. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/12/01/public-opinion-about-genetically-modified-foods-and-trust-in-scientists-connected-with-these-foods/

22.

Funk

Rainie

(2015, July). Americans, politics and science issues, Chapter 6: Public opinion about food. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2015/07/2015-07-01_science-and-politics_FINAL-1.pdf

23.

Gerbert

Berg-Smith

Mancuso

Caspers

McPhee

Null

Wofsy

(2003). Using innovative video doctor technology in primary care to deliver brief smoking and alcohol intervention. Health Promotion Practice, 4, 249-261. doi:10.1177/1524839903004003009

24.

Goldsmith

D. J.

MacGeorge

E. L.

(2000). The impact of politeness and relationship on perceived quality of advice about a problem. Human Communication Research, 26, 234-263. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2000.tb00757.x

25.

Greenpeace. (2016). Genetic engineering could be a threat to human and environmental health. Retrieved from http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/agriculture/problem/genetic-engineering/

26.

Hamilton

M. A.

Hunter

J. E.

Burgoon

(1990). An empirical investigation of an axiomatic model of the relationship between language intensity on attitude change. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 9, 235-255. doi:10.1177/0261927X9094002

27.

Hart

P. S.

Nisbet

E. C.

(2012). Boomerang effects in science communication: How motivated reasoning and identity cues amplify opinion polarization about climate mitigation policies. Communication Research, 39, 701-723. doi:10.1177/0093650211416646

28.

Hiltzik

(2015, January 24). Will the Disneyland measles outbreak turn the anti-vaccination crowd into public enemies? It should: http://ow.ly/HS8QG [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/hiltzikm/status/559053108815609856

29.

Infante

D. A.

(1987). Aggressiveness. In McCroskey

Daly

(Eds.), Personality and interpersonal communication (pp. 157-192). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

30.

Jenkins

Dragojevic

(2011). Explaining the process of resistance to persuasion: A politeness theory-based approach. Communication Research, 40, 559-590. doi:10.1177/0093650211420136

31.

Kahan

D. M.

(2015). Climate-science communication and the measurement problem. Political Psychology, 36, 1-43. doi:10.1111/pops.12244

32.

Kunda

(1990). The case for motivated reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 480-498. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480

33.

Lau

R. R.

Sigelman

Rovner

I. B.

(2007). The effects of negative political campaigns: A meta-analytic reassessment. Journal of Politics, 69, 1176-1209. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2508.2007.00618.x

34.

Maddux

J. E.

Rogers

R. W.

(1980). Effects of source expertness, physical attractiveness, and supporting arguments on persuasion: A case of brains over beauty. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 235-244. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.2.235

35.

McGuire

W. J.

Rice

R. E.

Atkin

C. K.

(2001). Input and output variables currently promising for constructing persuasive communications. Public Communication Campaigns, 3, 22-48. doi:10.4135/9781452233260.n2

36.

McNair

(2011). An introduction to political communication. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

37.

Miller

C. H.

Lane

L. T.

Deatrick

L. M.

Young

A. M.

Potts

K. A.

(2007). Psychological reactance and promotional health messages: The effects of controlling language, lexical concreteness, and the restoration of freedom. Human Communication Research, 33, 219-240. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00297.x

38.

Mutz

D. C.

Reeves

(2005). The new videomalaise: Effects of televised incivility on political trust. American Political Science Review, 99, 1-15. doi:10.1017/S0003055405051452

39.

National Research Council. (2010). The impact of genetically engineered crops on farm sustainability in the United States. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. doi:10.17226/12804

40.

Pishghadam

Navari

(2012). A study into politeness strategies and politeness markers in advertisements as persuasive tools. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 3, 161-171. doi:10.5901/mjss.2012.v3n2.161

41.

Pornpitakpan

(2004). The persuasiveness of source credibility: A critical review of five decades’ evidence. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 243-281. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2004.tb02547.x

42.

Robbins

Niederdeppe

(2017). How online peer-to-peer conversation shapes the effects of a message about healthy sleep. Prevention Science, 18, 141-151.

43.

Romm

(2012). Climate science disinformers are nothing like Holocaust deniers. Climate Progress. Retrieved from http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/05/21/485848/climate-science-disinformers-are-nothing-like-holocaust-deniers

44.

Sarich

(2015). 64 nations say no to GMO, yet US govt nears illegal GMO labeling: Why don’t we have the right to know? Natural Society. Retrieved from https://www.globalresearch.ca/64-nations-say-no-to-gmo-yet-us-govt-nears-illegal-gmo-labeling/5466107

45.

Schewitz

(2014, Oct). Dear anti-GMO activists, keep your stupid labels off my food. Forward Progressives. Retrieved from http://www.forwardprogressives.com/dear-anti-gmo-activists-keep-your-stupid-labels-off-my-food/

46.

Southwell

B. G.

(2013). Social networks and popular understanding of science and health: Sharing disparities. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

47.

Southwell

B. G.

Yzer

M. C.

(2007). The roles of interpersonal communication in mass media campaigns. Annals of the International Communication Association, 31, 420-462.

48.

Thorson

Vraga

Ekdale

(2010). Credibility in context: How uncivil online commentary affects news credibility. Mass Communication and Society, 13, 289-313. doi:10.1080/15205430903225571

49.

Webster

Sundaram

D. S.

(2009). Effect of service provider’s communication style on customer satisfaction in professional services setting: The moderating role of criticality and service nature. Journal of Services Marketing, 23, 103-113. doi:10.1108/08876040910946369

50.

Wegner

D. M.

Wenzlaff

Kerker

R. M.

Beattie

A. E.

(1981). Incrimination through innuendo: Can media questions become public answers? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 822-832. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.40.5.822

51.

Wilson

E. J.

Sherrell

D. L.

(1993). Source effects in communication and persuasion research: A meta-analysis of effect size. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 21, 101-112. doi:10.1007/BF02894421

52.

Wood

Kallgren

C. A.

(1988). Communicator attributes and persuasion recipients’ access to attitude-relevant information in memory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 14, 172-182. doi:10.1177/0146167288141017

53.

Yuan

Besley

J. C.

(2018). Talking aggressively about GMOs? Examining the effect of aggressive risk communication with communicator’s facial expression and gender. Journal of Risk Research, 28, 1592-1607.

54.

Yuan

Besley

J. C.

(2018). Be mean or be nice? Understanding the effects of aggressive and polite communication styles in child vaccination debate. Health Communication. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/10410236.2018.1471337