| In the "post truth" era,influenced by various factors such as big data and new media,the public’s standards for evaluating things may overlook the truth of the things themselves and prioritize subjective experiences such as emotions and feelings,forming an irrational thinking and outlook that puts the cart before the horse.The rapid development of new media has made online media a platform for people to express opinions,comment on online information,and share information.It has also rapidly fermented the diverse opinions of online public opinion,reducing users’ trust in online media information.At the same time,users may also be influenced by their own personality and emotional characteristics,leading to a decrease in trust in online media information.Therefore,this study aims to explore how the consistency between news information published by online media and public opinion comments published by netizens in the "post truth" era affects user media trust,which is influenced by their cognitive factors(Need for Cognitive)and emotional factors(security,emotions).It also explores the mediating and moderating effects of factors such as user Need for Cognitive,security,and emotions in this process.The study was divided into two experiments based on whether online media belongs to official media.The online media in Experiment 1 is official media,while the online media in Experiment 2 is unofficial media.Both experiments used a combination of experimental and questionnaire methods,with a total of 885 college students and enterprise employees surveyed.The results of Experiment 1 showed that: 1.The subject variable had no statistical impact on the dependent variable media credibility;2.Information consistency has a positive predictive effect on media credibility.The chain mesomeric effect effect and simple effect of information consistency-->security-->positive emotion-->media credibility are significant,and the mesomeric effect is part of the mesomeric effect effect.This indicates that the consistency between official media news information and public opinion information directly affects users’ trust in official media,and it also positively affects official media trust through a sense of security and positive emotions,which play a partial mediating role;3.Need for Cognitive negatively regulate the impact of information consistency on media credibility.Regardless of their high or low Need for Cognitive,when news information is consistent with the direction of public opinion comments,they tend to trust online media more;When the direction of news information and public opinion comments is inconsistent,they are more inclined to distrust online media.However,compared to those with high Need for Cognitive,the consistency of news information and public opinion comments has a greater impact on the trust level of low Need for Cognitive in online media.Need for Cognitive play a moderating role in the impact of information consistency on official media trust.The results of Experiment 2 showed that: 1.The subject variable had no statistical impact on the dependent variable’s media credibility;2.Information consistency has a positive predictive effect on media credibility.The chain mesomeric effect effect and simple effect of information consistency-->security-->negative emotion-->media credibility are significant,and the mesomeric effect is part of the mesomeric effect effect.This indicates that the consistency of news information and public opinion information in unofficial media directly affects the public’s trust in unofficial media,and also positively affects the trust of unofficial media through a sense of security and negative emotions,which play a partial mediating role;3.Need for Cognitive negatively regulate the impact of information consistency on media credibility,while Need for Cognitive play a moderating role in the impact of information consistency on unofficial media trust.In addition,compared with the mean values of media credibility,security,and Need for Cognitive in Experiment 1and Experiment 2,it can be seen that users have significantly higher trust in official media than in unofficial media.Although the difference in Need for Cognitive between the two experiments is significant,it is a small effect quantity,indicating that the difference in Need for Cognitive between the two experimental subjects is not significant.Conclusion: Users have a higher level of trust in official media compared to unofficial media,mainly due to their trust in the credibility of the government.Online public opinion may be an important reason for the decrease in users’ trust in online media,with the public’s perception of safety,positive and negative emotions,and Need for Cognitive playing a mediating and moderating role.The study explored the psychological mechanism by which online public opinion affects users’ trust in media,providing a research foundation for repairing and enhancing the level of public social trust. |
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