The Third-person Effect of Tainted Food Product Recall News: Examining the Role of Credibility, Attention, and Elaboration for College Students in Taiwan

This study examines third-person effect of news of tainted food product recalls on oneself relative to others. The survey (N = 1,213) found that respondents tended to think the influence of the news on others was greater than on themselves (the study used reactions to a milk powder scandal in China). Message credibility and attention to and elaboration of the recall news were found to reduce the third-person perceptual gap. Furthermore, the perceived effect of news on oneself, not on others, was positively associated with the behavioral intention of information-seeking and taking protective action.