Structural knowledge and subjective knowledge, not factual knowledge, promotes corrective and restrictive actions towards healthy eating misinformation in China: a multigroup comparison of extended cognitive mediation model based on altruism

Based on the cognitive mediation model (CMM), this study seeks to examine how attention to different media platforms influenced different knowledges via reflective integration, ultimately motivating individuals to perform corrective and restrictive actions against misinformation in the context of healthy eating misinformation. Using data collected from a national survey of 563 Chinese citizens, the findings of this study are threefold. First, attention to television and social media stimulated elaboration and interpersonal communication, while attention to websites only elicited elaboration. Second, only structural and subjective knowledge, not factual knowledge, were found to motivate individuals to perform corrective and restrictive actions. Third, a multigroup analysis demonstrated that the effects of (a) attention to TV news on elaboration, (b) attention to websites on elaboration, (c) interpersonal communication on factual knowledge, and (d) structural knowledge on restrictive actions differed among participants with different levels of altruism. Theoretically, whereas previous studies have focused on single dimension of knowledge, this study uncovered the multi-dimensional nature of knowledge by exploring factual knowledge, structural knowledge, and subjective knowledge in the CMM framework. Moreover, based on the O-S-R-O-R model, the CMM could be extended to behavioral outcomes, which have been overlooked by most CMM studies. In response, this study extends the CMM by integrating corrective and restrictive actions as behavioral outcomes. Lastly, rather than assuming individuals as homogenous in previous research, this study delves into exploring how individuals at the average age of 33.37 (SD = 8.46) with different levels of altruism engaged in different processes of cognitive mediation. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024.