University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Using chatbots to correct COVID-19 misinformation: a controlled experiment

Gong, Ziyang

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115956

Description

Title
Using chatbots to correct COVID-19 misinformation: a controlled experiment
Author(s)
Gong, Ziyang
Issue Date
2022-07-22
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Su, Leona Yi-Fan
Committee Member(s)
  • Wise, Kevin
  • Sar, Sela
Department of Study
Advertising
Discipline
Advertising
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Keyword(s)
  • chatbot
  • conversational agent
  • empathy
  • interactivity
  • misperception
  • vaccination intention
  • COVID-19
Abstract
Conversational agents, otherwise known as chatbots, have been increasingly used by organizations worldwide to provide health-related information and correct misinformation in the COVID-19 pandemic. However, previous studies have neither empirically investigated the effectiveness of correcting misinformation using chatbots, nor have they provided theory-based guidelines for the designing of such chatbots. To address these concerns, we developed our misinformation-correcting chatbots and conducted two experiments. In the pre-test experiment (n = 42), we examined whether corrective information provided through chatbot interactions can correct COVID-related misperception and behavioral intention compared to not receiving such information. In the official study (n = 791), we investigate whether and how chatbots with interactive conversational cues and/or empathetic conversational cues can outperform the basic chatbot in correcting users’ COVID-19-vaccination misperception and enhancing users’ vaccination intention. Our results indicate that chatbots can be effective in fighting against misinformation and interactive and empathetic conversational cues do affect users’ psychological perception towards the chatbot and in turn leads to better interaction outcomes. We also identified different mechanisms of people’s misperception change and behavioral intention change. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Graduation Semester
2022-08
Type of Resource
Thesis
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2022 Ziyang Gong

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