Predicting Health Misperceptions: The Role of eHealth Literacy and Situational Perceptions

This study sought to understand how health misperceptions develop among individuals after exposure to misinformation messages, and how eHealth literacy and situational motivation in problem solving are associated with the negative effects of misinformation exposure. We also sought to understand the differentiated effects of misinformation exposure on the four misinformation-susceptible publics. Results from two studies revealed that situational motivation was positively associated with the formation of misperceptions after misinformation exposure as well as individuals' likelihood of amplifying the misinformation message. However, eHealth literacy does not reduce misperceptions, as had been hypothesized. In fact, eHealth literacy was not significantly associated with misperceptions or with misinformation amplification likelihood. Results also provide support for the typology of misinformation-susceptible publics as misinformation-amplifying publics were the most susceptible to misinformation messages.