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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1491096
This article is part of the Research Topic Inclusive Health Communication: Strategies for Equitable Information Dissemination View all articles

Cyber Anti-intellectualism and Science Communication during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study

Provisionally accepted
Yan Kuang Yan Kuang *
  • School of Journalism and New Media, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, science communication played a crucial role in disseminating accurate information and promoting scientific literacy among the public. However, the rise of anti-intellectualism on social media platforms has posed significant challenges to science, scientists, and science communication, hindering effective public engagement with scientific affairs. This study aims to explore the mechanisms through which anti-intellectualism impacts science communication on social media platforms from the perspective of communication effect theory.This study employed a cross-sectional research design to conduct an online questionnaire survey of Chinese social media users from August to September 2021. The survey results were analyzed via descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and a chain mediation model with SPSS 26.0.Results: There were significant differences in anti-intellectualism tendency among groups of different demographic characteristics. The majority of respondents placed greater emphasis on knowledge that has practical benefits in life. Respondents' trust in different groups of intellectuals showed significant inconsistencies, with economists and experts receiving the lowest levels of trust. Anti-intellectualism significantly and positively predicted the level of misconception of scientific and technological information, while significantly and negatively predicting individuals' attitudes toward science communication. It further influenced respondents' behavior in disseminating scientific and technological information through the chain mediation of scientific misconception and attitudes toward science communication.Conclusions: This research enriches the conceptual framework of anti-intellectualism across various cultural contexts, as well as the theoretical framework concerning the interaction between antiintellectualism and science communication. The findings provide suggestions for developing strategies to enhance the effectiveness of science communication and risk communication during public emergencies.

    Keywords: Science Communication, Anti-intellectualism, Expert trust, Communication effect, Chain mediation model

    Received: 04 Sep 2024; Accepted: 18 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kuang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yan Kuang, School of Journalism and New Media, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.