Effects of visual and linguistic anthropomorphic cues on social perception,self-awareness,and information disclosure in a health website |
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Affiliation: | 1. Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, 31 Nanyang Link, Singapore 637718, Singapore;2. Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong |
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Abstract: | Acknowledging the lack of studies examining both visual and linguistic anthropomorphic cues and the underlying mechanisms of their effects, we investigated how the different modalities of anthropomorphic cues in a health website influenced information disclosure. In a 2 (visual cues: human vs. non-human image) × 2 (linguistic cues: conversational vs. impersonal language) × 2 (question type: less vs. more sensitive questions) between-subjects experiment (N = 254), participants registered with a mock-up health website. We assessed a behavioral outcome of not disclosing personal information and psychological outcomes of social perception and self-awareness as potential mediators. Results revealed distinctive effects of the two modalities of the anthropomorphic cues. Anthropomorphic images, on one hand, increased public and private self-awareness, and public self-awareness in turn led to less information disclosure. Anthropomorphic language, on the other hand, heightened social perception and promoted information disclosure, but social perception did not predict the disclosure. These results indicate unique underlying mechanisms of the effects of anthropomorphism: priming effect of visual cues, and communicative effects of linguistic cues. |
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Keywords: | Anthropomorphic cues Social perception Self-awareness Information disclosure |
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