Examining public acquisition of science knowledge from social media in Singapore: an extension of the cognitive mediation model

ABSTRACT

This study extends the cognitive mediation model (CMM) by examining the role of social media in cultivating public science knowledge. A sample of 901 Singaporeans was collected through an online survey panel. The results showed that the CMM could be applied to a social media context with a focus on science literacy. Specifically, the findings indicated that people with higher levels of surveillance gratification and social utility motivations tended to pay more attention and to elaborate more about science news that they encounter on social media. Likewise, people with greater social utility motivation tended to engage in greater interpersonal discussions on social media. Notably, attention to news on social media had an indirect association with science knowledge through news elaboration and interpersonal discussion on social media. Implications for theory and practice for science communication were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive mediation model
• social media
• motivation
• information processing
• science knowledge

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Shirley S. Ho (Ph.D. in Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2008) is an Associate Professor and Assistant Chair (Faculty) in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University. Her research focuses on new media and public perception of science and technologies. She has published in premier journals such as Communication Research, Nature Nanotechnology, and Science Communication.

Xiaodong Yang is a Ph.D. candidate (Master of Communication Studies, Renmin University of China, 2011) in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research focuses on environmental, health and science communication, risk communication, new media, and public opinion. Her prior works have been published in Science Communication, International Journal of Communication, and Chinese Journal of Communication.

Amber Thanwarani is a Research Associate (Master of Mass Communication, Nanyang Technological University, 2015) in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University. Her research focuses on public opinion theories in the contexts of science communication and new media.

Juliana M. Chan (Ph.D. in Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010) is a Nanyang Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University, with joint appointments at the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. She is the editor-in-chief of Asian Scientist Magazine, a print and online science and technology magazine about research and development in Asia.

Notes

1. According to the Singapore National Census (Singapore Department of Statistics, 2010), the median age of Singaporeans is 37.4 years. The median monthly household income is S$8290. For gender, 49.11% are males and 50.88% are females.

2. When we tested the alternative model by reversing the causal relationship between social media discussion and science knowledge, the model produced a poorer fit in comparison to our original model (χ² = 1220.36, df = 240, p < .001, χ²/df = 5.08, RMSEA = .07, CFI = .90, TLI = .89). Thus, our post hoc analysis suggests that our proposed hypothesized model is better than the rival model.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Start-Up Grant [grant number M4081283] and the HASS Incentive Grant [grant number M4081618] from Nanyang Technological University.