A quick search of social media websites demonstrates that users often describe their benign behav... more A quick search of social media websites demonstrates that users often describe their benign behaviors (e.g., organizing drawers or color-coding) as related to obsessive– compulsive disorder (OCD). Yet, the actual disease is complex and often much more severe than suggested by Twitter users who employ the term #OCD. The present experiment examines the effects of such disease trivialization on social media users' perceptions of the disease, emotional reactions, and intentions to take action related to the disease. To do so, it first explicates the concept of disease trivialization as a three-part phenomenon involving oversimplification, decreased severity, and mockery. Findings from an experiment (N=574) indicate that different patterns of emotional reactions can be found in response to framing of OCD as either trivial, clinical, or both trivial and clinical. Moreover, significant interactions between independent variables were found. Participant gender and preexisting familiarity with OCD also shaped participant perceptions and behavioral intentions. Directions for future work are discussed.
Informal discussions of mental illness take place every day in social media. In the case of obses... more Informal discussions of mental illness take place every day in social media. In the case of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), in particular, widespread use of the hashtag “#OCD” indicates that social media users often trivialize the disease. The present study used a 3 x 2 x 2 between-subjects fully factorial online experiment (N = 574, recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform) to test the impact of trivialized framing of this disease on perceptions of social media users who employ such language, as well as on perceptions of people with OCD as a group. Additionally, this study tested the effects of the gender of the Twitter avatar and self-identification in the avatar biography as an individual with OCD on these perceptions. Three-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) assessed the impact of the manipulations (i.e., content frame, gender of the avatar, self-identification with OCD). Results indicate that language use, gender, and self-identification influence impression formation in a social media environment.
A quick search of social media websites demonstrates that users often describe their benign behav... more A quick search of social media websites demonstrates that users often describe their benign behaviors (e.g., organizing drawers or color-coding) as related to obsessive– compulsive disorder (OCD). Yet, the actual disease is complex and often much more severe than suggested by Twitter users who employ the term #OCD. The present experiment examines the effects of such disease trivialization on social media users' perceptions of the disease, emotional reactions, and intentions to take action related to the disease. To do so, it first explicates the concept of disease trivialization as a three-part phenomenon involving oversimplification, decreased severity, and mockery. Findings from an experiment (N=574) indicate that different patterns of emotional reactions can be found in response to framing of OCD as either trivial, clinical, or both trivial and clinical. Moreover, significant interactions between independent variables were found. Participant gender and preexisting familiarity with OCD also shaped participant perceptions and behavioral intentions. Directions for future work are discussed.
Informal discussions of mental illness take place every day in social media. In the case of obses... more Informal discussions of mental illness take place every day in social media. In the case of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), in particular, widespread use of the hashtag “#OCD” indicates that social media users often trivialize the disease. The present study used a 3 x 2 x 2 between-subjects fully factorial online experiment (N = 574, recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform) to test the impact of trivialized framing of this disease on perceptions of social media users who employ such language, as well as on perceptions of people with OCD as a group. Additionally, this study tested the effects of the gender of the Twitter avatar and self-identification in the avatar biography as an individual with OCD on these perceptions. Three-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) assessed the impact of the manipulations (i.e., content frame, gender of the avatar, self-identification with OCD). Results indicate that language use, gender, and self-identification influence impression formation in a social media environment.
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Papers by Rachelle L. Pavelko