Abstract
This study examines public response to and perceived believability of information disseminated in the news media about a real-time earthquake prediction, and extends the body of media credibility research by examining these responses within the context of Taylor's (1983) cognitive adaptation theory. The theory focuses on people's illusions of well-being that under certain circumstances of threat can lead to adaptive behaviors and provides insights into why some people increased their assessments of message credibility while others lowered their evaluations; still others made no change over time in their assessments of message believability.
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