Browsing by Author "Aktar, Bengi"

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    Master Thesis
    The effect of type of threat on political ideology
    (Kadir Has Üniversitesi, 2022) Aktar, Bengi; Yılmaz, Onurcan; Yılmaz, Onurcan
    There is currently no consensus about the relationship between threat and political ideology in the literature. While conservatism as motivated social cognition account (MSC) suggests that when people are under threat, they become more politically conservative, the Terror Management Theory (TMT) argues that threat leads people to support their existing worldviews. On the other hand, the Issue Ownership Model suggests that some parties or leaders might seem more compatible in solving certain problems. Therefore, different types of threats might result in various types of shifts in political ideology. To clarify the controversy, in this research, we examined the relationship between the type of threat and political ideology in a Turkish context. We investigated whether the type of threat might produce different effects on political ideology. Participants read one of the three articles, and then responded to the political ideology measures. Two articles (terror threat – climate threat) served as manipulations (intended to elicit a conservative shift or liberal shift) while the other one served as a control condition. Our main hypotheses were that (1) participants in the terror threat condition would score higher on the conservatism scale compared to other conditions, (2) participants in the climate threat condition would score lower on the conservatism scale compared to other conditions, and (3) participants in the threat conditions will display more negative mood assessment compared to control conditions. We found no support for our main hypotheses; on the other hand, our exploratory analyses yield significant results for future studies to take into account.
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    Article
    Citation Count: 0
    Effective health communication depends on the interaction of message source and content: two experiments on adherence to COVID-19 measures in Türkiye
    (Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2023) Yılmaz, Onurcan; Aktar, Bengi; Aydas, Berke; Yilmaz, Onurcan; Alper, Sinan; Isler, Ozan
    ObjectiveFollowing the COVID-19 outbreak, authorities recommended preventive measures to reduce infection rates. However, adherence to calls varied between individuals and across cultures. To determine the characteristics of effective health communication, we investigated three key features: message source, content, and audience.MethodsUsing a pre-test and two experiments, we tested how message content (emphasizing personal or social benefit), audience (individual differences), message source (scientists or state officials), and their interaction influence adherence to preventive measures. Using fliers advocating preventive measures, Experiment 1 investigated the effects of message content and examined the moderator role of individual differences. Experiment 2 presented the messages using news articles and manipulated sources.ResultsStudy 1 found decreasing adherence over time, with no significant impact from message content or individual differences. Study 2 found messages emphasizing 'protect yourself' and 'protect your country' to increase intentions for adherence to preventive measures. It also revealed an interaction between message source and content whereby messages emphasizing personal benefit were more effective when they came from healthcare professionals than from state officials. However, message source and content did not affect vaccination intentions or donations for vaccine research.ConclusionEffective health communication requires simultaneous consideration of message source and content.