IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/riskan/v38y2018i12p2525-2534.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Communicating Zika Risk: Using Metaphor to Increase Perceived Risk Susceptibility

Author

Listed:
  • Hang Lu
  • Jonathon P. Schuldt

Abstract

Effectively communicating the risks associated with emerging zoonotic diseases remains an important challenge. Drawing on research into the psychological effects of metaphoric framing, we explore the conditions under which exposure to the “nation as a body” metaphor influences perceived risk susceptibility, behavioral intentions, and policy support in the context of Zika virus. In a between‐subjects experiment, 354 U.S. adults were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions as part of a 2 (severity message: high vs. low) × 2 (U.S. framing: metaphoric vs. literal) design. Results revealed an interaction effect such that metaphoric (vs. literal) framing increased perceived risk susceptibility in the high‐severity condition only. Further analyses revealed that perceived risk susceptibility and negative affect mediated the path between the two‐way interaction and policy support and behavioral intentions regarding Zika prevention. Overall, these findings complement prior work on the influence of metaphoric framing on risk perceptions, while offering practical insights for risk communicators seeking to communicate about Zika and other zoonotic diseases.

Suggested Citation

  • Hang Lu & Jonathon P. Schuldt, 2018. "Communicating Zika Risk: Using Metaphor to Increase Perceived Risk Susceptibility," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(12), pages 2525-2534, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:riskan:v:38:y:2018:i:12:p:2525-2534
    DOI: 10.1111/risa.12982
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.12982
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/risa.12982?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kate E. Jones & Nikkita G. Patel & Marc A. Levy & Adam Storeygard & Deborah Balk & John L. Gittleman & Peter Daszak, 2008. "Global trends in emerging infectious diseases," Nature, Nature, vol. 451(7181), pages 990-993, February.
    2. Branden B. Johnson, 2017. "Explaining Americans’ responses to dread epidemics: an illustration with Ebola in late 2014," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(10), pages 1338-1357, October.
    3. Gerard J Steen & W Gudrun Reijnierse & Christian Burgers, 2014. "When Do Natural Language Metaphors Influence Reasoning? A Follow-Up Study to Thibodeau and Boroditsky (2013)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-25, December.
    4. Paul H Thibodeau & Lera Boroditsky, 2011. "Metaphors We Think With: The Role of Metaphor in Reasoning," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(2), pages 1-11, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Legein Thomas & Vandeleene Audrey & Randour François & Heyvaert Pauline & Perrez Julien & Reuchamps Min, 2018. "Framing the Basic Income: An Experimental Study of How Arguments and Metaphors Influence Individuals’ Opinion Formation," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Paul H Thibodeau & Lera Boroditsky, 2015. "Measuring Effects of Metaphor in a Dynamic Opinion Landscape," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-22, July.
    3. Nikolett Orosz & Tünde Tóthné Tóth & Gyöngyi Vargáné Gyuró & Zsoltné Tibor Nábrádi & Klára Hegedűsné Sorosi & Zsuzsa Nagy & Éva Rigó & Ádám Kaposi & Gabriella Gömöri & Cornelia Melinda Adi Santoso & A, 2022. "Comparison of Length of Hospital Stay for Community-Acquired Infections Due to Enteric Pathogens, Influenza Viruses and Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria: A Cross-Sectional Study in Hungary," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-16, November.
    4. Mudassar Arsalan & Omar Mubin & Fady Alnajjar & Belal Alsinglawi, 2020. "COVID-19 Global Risk: Expectation vs. Reality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-10, August.
    5. Graupe, Silja & Steffestun, Theresa, 2018. ""The market deals out profit and losses": Wie ökonomische Standardlehrbücher das unreflektierte Denken in Metaphern fördern," Working Paper Serie des Instituts für Ökonomie Ök-38, Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung (HfGG), Institut für Ökonomie.
    6. Ceddia, M.G. & Bardsley, N.O. & Goodwin, R. & Holloway, G.J. & Nocella, G. & Stasi, A., 2013. "A complex system perspective on the emergence and spread of infectious diseases: Integrating economic and ecological aspects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 124-131.
    7. John M Drake & Tobias S Brett & Shiyang Chen & Bogdan I Epureanu & Matthew J Ferrari & Éric Marty & Paige B Miller & Eamon B O’Dea & Suzanne M O’Regan & Andrew W Park & Pejman Rohani, 2019. "The statistics of epidemic transitions," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-14, May.
    8. Ongolo, Symphorien & Giessen, Lukas & Karsenty, Alain & Tchamba, Martin & Krott, Max, 2021. "Forestland policies and politics in Africa: Recent evidence and new challenges," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    9. Paige, Sarah B. & Malavé, Carly & Mbabazi, Edith & Mayer, Jonathan & Goldberg, Tony L., 2015. "Uncovering zoonoses awareness in an emerging disease ‘hotspot’," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 78-86.
    10. Jianhua Wang & Guan-Zhu Han, 2023. "Genome mining shows that retroviruses are pervasively invading vertebrate genomes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    11. Livia Marchetti & Valentina Cattivelli & Claudia Cocozza & Fabio Salbitano & Marco Marchetti, 2020. "Beyond Sustainability in Food Systems: Perspectives from Agroecology and Social Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-24, September.
    12. Ivan Montiel & Junghoon Park & Bryan W. Husted & Andres Velez-Calle, 2022. "Tracing the connections between international business and communicable diseases," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(8), pages 1785-1804, October.
    13. Maxwell B Joseph & William E Stutz & Pieter T J Johnson, 2016. "Multilevel Models for the Distribution of Hosts and Symbionts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, November.
    14. Laure Bonnaud & Nicolas Fortané, 2017. "Serge Morand and Muriel Figuié (eds), 2016, Emergence de maladies infectieuses. Risques et enjeux de société (The emergence of infectious diseases. Societal risks and stakes)," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 98(3), pages 225-228, December.
    15. Chen, Xiaowei & Chong, Wing Fung & Feng, Runhuan & Zhang, Linfeng, 2021. "Pandemic risk management: Resources contingency planning and allocation," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(PB), pages 359-383.
    16. Lin Zhang & Jason Rohr & Ruina Cui & Yusi Xin & Lixia Han & Xiaona Yang & Shimin Gu & Yuanbao Du & Jing Liang & Xuyu Wang & Zhengjun Wu & Qin Hao & Xuan Liu, 2022. "Biological invasions facilitate zoonotic disease emergences," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    17. Elisa Giannone & Nuno Paixao & Xinle Pang, 2021. "The Geography of Pandemic Containment," Staff Working Papers 21-26, Bank of Canada.
    18. Ricardo Aguas & Neil M Ferguson, 2013. "Feature Selection Methods for Identifying Genetic Determinants of Host Species in RNA Viruses," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(10), pages 1-10, October.
    19. Paul H Thibodeau & Lera Boroditsky, 2013. "Natural Language Metaphors Covertly Influence Reasoning," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(1), pages 1-7, January.
    20. Katarzyna Kubiak & Hanna Szymańska & Małgorzata Dmitryjuk & Ewa Dzika, 2022. "Abundance of Ixodes ricinus Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) and the Diversity of Borrelia Species in Northeastern Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-18, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:riskan:v:38:y:2018:i:12:p:2525-2534. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1539-6924 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.