| Popis: |
In understanding the ways individuals gather information to manage uncertainty, communication researchers have distinguished between deliberate search behaviors (so-called information seeking) and the less deliberate ways routine patterns of media or social exposure inform us (so-called information scanning (Lewis, 2017)). Distinguishing between these two routes of information gathering is crucial for understanding media effects, with some prior research demonstrating information seeking is more positively associated with the adoption of healthy behaviors for managing uncertain health risks, like cancer prevention (Kelly et al., 2010). This paper applies this distinction between information seeking and scanning in the disaster media effects context, a field where the role of uncertainty in the effects of media on attitudes and behaviors remains understudied (Houston et al., 2018). Specifically, this paper focuses on how individuals gather information during an evolving hurricane threat, and whether their more or less deliberate ways of getting information fluctuates with their feelings of efficacy to protect themselves, an important predictor of protective behaviors (EPPM). This paper also explores predictors of information seeking adopted from RISP, including relevant hazard experience and perceived information sufficiency. Finally, this paper considers how information seeking and efficacy during an evolving threat may influence hindsight about actions taken post-hurricane. |
