Sadness, Risk Direction, and Correction of Health Misinformation: Effects on Beliefs and Sharing Intentions

This study examines how sadness and the risk direction of corrective messages jointly shape responses to health misinformation. In a 2 (emotion: neutral vs. sadness) $\times$ 2 (risk direction: risk-increasing e‑cigarette vs. risk-decreasing mRNA vaccine) online experiment with U.S. adults (N = 797), participants viewed a misinformation post, completed an autobiographical emotion induction and then received a text-only correction. Corrections reduced belief in false claims and lowered sharing overall. Sadness had no main effect but interacted with risk direction: in the risk-increasing e‑cigarette condition, sadness was associated with larger belief reductions, whereas in the risk-decreasing vaccine condition, sadness attenuated belief reduction. Belief predicted sharing intention, and the only reliable pathway from sadness to sharing operated indirectly via belief in the risk-decreasing condition. The findings highlight risk direction as a structural property of corrective messages and show that sadness can support or undermine corrections, depending on how risk is repositioned.