Experimental Examination of Social Transmission of Health Information using an Online Platform

The "viral" nature of information transmission has the potential to transmit both accurate and inaccurate information. The present experiment examines the social transmission of health information, focusing on disorder etiology. Participants were placed in one of three generations of social transmission chains. The first generation read information concerning one of four fictitious disorders, pairing one disorder (Physiological or Psychological) with one etiology (Genetic or Environmental). Then, to ensure minimal loss of information (which is common in open-ended recollections), participants recalled key aspects of the disorders through multiple-choice questions. Their selections were used to modify the vignettes for the second generation and the third generation read the second's recollections. All participants also evaluated diagnosed patients on social distance and disgust. Findings suggest that genetic etiology was better recalled when paired with a psychological disorder than a physiological one. Participants desired more social distance from psychological disorders' patients (regardless of etiology) and showed higher disgust for environmental etiological patients (regardless of disorder). Implications focus on the role of content biases in the transmission of health information and misinformation.