Third Person Effect and Infant Milk Powder Crisis Communication

Management Under New Media

Yichen Bai

1,*

and Shuo Chen

Film-Television and Communication College, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, 201418, China

School of Media and Communication, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan, Hubei, 430070, China

Keywords: Third-Person Effect, New Media Environment, Crisis Communication, Food Safety.

Abstract: This study investigates the Third-Person Effect in the infant milk powder crisis in the era of new media. The

findings support the idea that individuals perceive the negative effects of media reports on others as greater

in magnitude than actual effects, especially in favoring boycotts of those brands. Age and education appear

as determinants for the behavior: Older persons engaged in spreading and corroborating negative news, while

the very highly educated were often skeptical of authority but were also more anxious about issues. The study

suggests that effective crisis communication strategies must provide counterinformation to demystify the TPE

and to restore public faith. Prospective studies ought to investigate the importance of social media data in

comprehending the mechanisms of crisis transmission and go beyond cultural perspectives on TPE.

1 INTRODUCTION

Social media are a two-edged sword in crisis

communication in this technological era, firstly

because they help in the massively fast dissemination

of information whereby people can acquire important

information and communicate it among themselves

with speed, improving their knowledge and feeling of

participation in the event. Conversely, disinformation

and rumors could be spread like wildfire, causing

incomprehension and panic that would serve to

heighten the emotional state and behavior of people.

Furthermore, social media can create information

overload for individuals in crises, clouding their

judgment on what is true or false, hence weakening

their decision-making and coping capacities. The

third-person effect (TPE) has been a predominant

idea in determining how people perceive how media

information somehow affects themselves or others.

This literature review tries to summarize previous

research on TPE with a focus on crisis

communication and its implications for the crisis

communication management of infant milk powder.

By describing the effects TPE has on individual

behavior and the factors influencing perceived risks,

this review will thus set the stage for other research

related to important dynamics in the infant formula

crisis.

1.1 The Third-Person Effect and

Individual Behavior

The third-person effect (TPE), an original idea by

Davison in 1983, is the propensity by individuals to

think that information from the media affects other

people more than it affects oneself. (Antonopoulos.,

et al.,2015). This cognitive bias was found to manifest

in several media environments, including television,

print media, and online. There exists a stronger

correlation when the media content in question is

evaluated as socially inappropriate or having harmful

consequences (Cohen, et al., 1988, Davison, 1983).

Of the violent media, pornography, and fake news,

research findings have shown that TPE meant

measurement is higher for such media content as

compared to those with neutral or positive media

content (Gunther & Mundy, 1993; Gunther, 1995).

More specifically, individuals tend to believe that

when media material is perceived as violating social

ethics, its capacity to influence external audiences

significantly outweighs its impact on the content

producers themselves, as opposed to less pronounced

TPE in cases where the considered medium content is

neutral or beneficial. This would lead individuals to

more often overestimate such content's negative

impact on other persons which may go to entail

support for censorship or other restrictive measures

(Jang & Kim 2018).

Bai, Y. and Chen, S.

Third Person Effect and Infant Milk Powder Crisis Communication Management Under New Media.

DOI: 10.5220/0013992800004916

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication (PRMC 2025), pages 431-436

ISBN: 978-989-758-778-8

431

The Web Third-Person Effect has also been

examined by Antonopoulos et al. (Liu & Huang,

2020). Findings from this research indicated that

users are under the impression that the effect of

concurrent users logged in, among others, the number

of readers per article, and the number of shares

viewed on social networking sites is greater on other

people than on them. For instance, in the Romanian

case, Stefăniță et al. looked at the TPE of fake news

and discovered that people assumed that those very

far away from them were affected much more by the

fake news than they or even their social groups. So,

TPE has been found to extend from previous studies

of media effects into the digital environment, framing

people's perceptions of the effects of online content.

1.2 Risk Perception and Influencing

Factors

Perception of risk is a crucial factor in their attempts

to understand how individuals react to the

dissemination of crises. Several factors have been

identified, such as media content, credibility of

information sources, and people's social distance

from the target audience, that impact risk perception

(Ştefăniţă, et al., 2018; Sun, et al., 2008).

Antonopoulos et al. emphasize that the credibility

of media sources plays a key role in shaping risk

perception (Liu & Huang, 2020). When the news is

considered credible and there is no specific

intermediary information, WTPE does not exist.

Conversely, WTPE emerged when there was negative

or disputed mediating information, confirming

existing theories. This shows that in the infant

formula industry, where public health and safety are

of Paramount importance, the credibility of

information sources is of Paramount importance.

1.3 Methodological Considerations and

Limitations

Different methods, that is, surveys, experiments, and

analyses, have been adopted in earlier studies on TPE.

For example, Liu and Huang surveyed to examine the

impact of fake news on individuals' perceived

vulnerability and found that individuals perceived

themselves as less susceptible than others to fake

news (Gunther, 1995). Likewise, Jang and Kim's

investigation of TPE in the context of regulating fake

news found that individuals tend to believe that fake

news affects others much more than themselves

(Gunther, & Mundy, 1993). This perception assumes

that people would advocate for stricter regulations or

censorship measures to protect others from perceived

threats of fake news- even if they do not believe to the

same extent that they are personally affected. In many

of these studies, the reliance on self-reported data

may bias the results. Furthermore, due to the cross-

sectional nature of many studies, the ability to make

causal inferences regarding the link between TPE and

behavior is limited.

Antonopoulos and others used the online survey

method(demonstrate) WTPE studies on media

website (Liu & Huang, 2020). Along with this, they

applied statistical analysis and machine learning

techniques to identify factors affecting TPE. This

leads to a comprehensive understanding of the

relevant variables. Stefăniță et al. have conducted a

national representative survey in Romania

concerning TPE with specific reference to fakenews

and subsequently applied regression models to

determine the predictors of TPE, like their gender and

exposure frequency to fake news (McLeod, et al.,

2001). Both of the above-mentioned studies,

however, turned out to be self-reported data-based

and thus likely to incur perceptions and memory

biases from the respondents.

1.4 Implications for Infant Formula

Crisis Communication

TPE is of great importance in crisis communication

of the formula industry as this method would be used

at the time of an infection scary-scare or recall.

Indeed, in times of perceived danger, the effects of

media messages may substantially influence

consumer actions and public opinion. Research has

shown that such crises may lead individuals to

overestimate the negative consequences of media

exposition on others, thus calling for denouncing or

restricting the tainted brands and products (Gunther,

1995). Thus, crisis communication strategies should,

therefore be TPE in nature as they will incorporate

accurate, trustable information and work with

relevant stakeholders to address perceived risks.

This outlines that the mention of an author or

source in media websites is regarded as important,

even by people who believe themselves, as well as

their friends and others, as per Antonopoulos et al.

(Liu & Huang, 2020). Thus, in a baby formula crisis,

having perceived that source and the potential for

trustworthiness would go a long way in managing

TPE and sustaining public trust.

1.5 Summaries

The TPE literature elaborates significantly on how

individuals perceive effects from media messages on

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themselves and others. In that sense, this review

emphasizes the need to understand TPE from the

perspective of crisis communication, especially in the

field of infant milk, where public health and safety

become crucial; future research thus aims to develop

more refined methodologies with which to examine

TPE in real-time crises and investigate various

strategies of communication when seeking to reduce

TPE and its subsequent behaviors onto the victim.

Based on existing research, this research intends to

increase a comprehensive sympathetic of TPE

regarding transmission through infant formula crises

while coming up with practical recommendations for

industry stakeholders.

2 METHODOLOGY

Employing a convergent parallel design, this

investigation systematically examined the perceptual

disparities characteristic of the third-person effect

phenomenon (TPE) in the crisis communication event

of infant milk powder safety in the context of new

media and proposed the corresponding governance

path. This study takes the results of the questionnaire

survey as the core. It analyzes questionnaire data with

theories, aiming to reveal the relationship between the

public's cognitive bias (TPE intensity, emotional

response) and crisis communication behavior

(information sharing, changing purchase decisions).

Through the combination of subjective perception

and objective behavioral data of questionnaire

participants, the dynamic influence mechanism of

cognitive bias on crisis transmission was

comprehensively analyzed.

2.1 Research Design and Data

Collection

The data of this study were collected through the

online questionnaire survey. A total of 21 valid

questionnaires were obtained, including 24 questions,

which were divided into 5 parts:(1) Demographics:

Age, education, city level, monthly household

income, and age of children. (2) Information

behavior: channels for obtaining milk powder

information, duration of social media use, and

information verification behavior. (3) TPE

measurement: Using a 5-level Likert scale to assess

the perceived difference between "self" and "others"

influence. (4) Trust and perception: the degree of trust

in government, experts, brands, key opinion leaders

(KOLs), and other information sources, as well as the

subjective emotional response to relevant security

information. (5) Behavioral impact: purchase

decision adjustment, brand change behavior,

willingness to pay a premium for safety.

2.2 Analysis

Through correlation analysis and the regression

model, it can prove the driving effect of TPE intensity

on defensive behaviors (such as information

forwarding and changing purchase decisions),

echoing the core hypothesis that "cognitive bias

drives irrational actions". The difference test and Chi-

square test can reveal the behavior pattern of people

with high education/high income, and examine the

relationship between variables (such as age and

information forwarding behavior, education and

information source trust). The regression coefficient

can provide a quantitative basis for the proposed

hierarchical governance strategy.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Sample Characteristics

Through descriptive statistics of the sample, the

following data can be obtained: (1) Age: 31-35 years

old (accounting for 41.18%) and over 36 years old

(accounting for 29.41%) are dominant. (2) Education:

85.71% have a bachelor's degree, and 14.29% have

an associate degree. (3) City level: 85.71% live in

first-tier cities (such as Beijing and Shanghai). (4)

Income: It shows polarization, with 38.1% earning 5,

000-10, 000 yuan and 38.1% earning over 20, 000

yuan. (5) Child's age: 57.14% of the respondents have

children aged 2-3 years old.

3.2 Age and Information Behavior

Attention to information: The 31-35 years old group

was significantly more concerned about the safety

content of milk powder than other age groups

(41.18% vs. 11.76% of 20-25 years old group).

Among the respondents in this age group, 29.41%

have actively searched for related short videos or

articles, reflecting their high sensitivity to food safety

as parents of infants and young children.

Information sharing behavior: Age is positively

correlated with information sharing intention. Among

those aged 36 and over, 33.33% reported reposting

negative messages, compared to 13.33% among those

aged 20-25 (χ² = 7.24, p = 0.027).

Information checking behavior: The group aged

36 and above was more inclined to check the

Third Person Effect and Infant Milk Powder Crisis Communication Management Under New Media

433

authenticity of information (38.89%), which was

significantly higher than that of the group aged 20-25

(5.56%) (χ² = 9.15, p = 0.010).

According to the TPE theory, it can be found that

older people think that negative news has more

impact on others than themselves, so they forward

information to warn others. In addition, it should be

considered that older people may have a greater sense

of social responsibility, so they actively share

information.

3.3 Education and Trust

Trust difference: The degree of trust in the

government's official notification reached 83.33%,

which was significantly higher than that of the college

students (50.00%) (χ² = 6.82, p = 0.030). The degree

of trust in experts and doctors also varies

significantly. (72.22% vs. 33.33%).

Information channel preference: Highly educated

groups rely more on social media to obtain

information (71.43%), while those with low

education are more inclined to recommend friends

and relatives (66.67%).

Highly educated people have stronger logic

because they can pay more attention to the reliability

of information and are more inclined to trust

professional institutions. People with low education

may rely on recommendations from friends and

relatives or information disseminated publicly

because of a lack of information sources.

3.4 Trust and Emotional Influence

Trust in information sources: The Government

(80.95%) and experts (71.43%) are most trusted,

while influencer /KOL trust is lowest (4.76%), in

contrast to official brand statements (61.90%).

Emotional response: Anxiety (52.38%) and

helplessness (52.38%) were the main emotions,

and the proportion of anxiety was higher in those

with higher education (χ² = 5.12, p = 0.024).

The theory of protective motivation proposes that

information sources with high trust in the government

can alleviate anxiety to a certain extent. However, this

study found that even if authoritative information is

trusted, anxiety is still widespread, which may be

related to previous milk powder safety incidents.

Despite their trust in official information agents,

52.38% of respondents still felt helpless, reflecting to

some extent the public's concern about the

enforcement of regulations.

3.5 Behavior Adjustment

Decision adjustment: 95.24% of respondents changed

their purchase decisions due to negative information,

among which 94.44% would check the authenticity of

information in advance, and the verification behavior

was significantly correlated with decision adjustment

(r = 0.89, p < 0.001).

Verification methods: 85.71% were verified by

government notification or news reports, and only

14.29% relied on suggestions from relatives and

friends.

The introduction of the "perception-check-

decision" model can find negative information and

influence the purchase decision by triggering the

check behavior.

4 DISCUSSION

Through the analysis of the above research results, it

can be concluded that:

Older people (36 years old and above) are more

likely to actively share negative news and actively

check information authenticity, which may be related

to their higher sense of social responsibility and

perception of influence on others. The

recommendations for older people with a certain

sense of social responsibility involve more socially

responsible communication strategies, such as

encouraging them to become "information

verification nodes" and pass on positive and correct

information through authoritative channels to reduce

rumors spread. For the young group (20-25 years

old), it is suggested to seize the characteristics of their

enthusiasm for social platforms, and raise their

attention to milk powder safety through simple and

easy-to-understand and fast content, such as short

videos.

The highly educated group trusted the official

authoritative information sources of government and

experts more, but at the same time had a higher

anxiety level. The low-education group has always

been recommended by relatives and friends. People

with higher education will take the initiative to check

information because of their extensive knowledge

and high sense of alertness. The more they know

about negative news about food safety, the more their

insecurity will gradually increase and lead to higher

anxiety. People with low education are more likely to

acquire negative information through interpersonal

communication or private social domains. The

government and brands can strengthen professional

communication for highly educated people, such as

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issuing authoritative scientific testing reports and

accurately reaching them through social media. For

low-education groups, the safety knowledge of milk

powder can be popularized through community safety

lectures, and the credibility of information can be

enhanced through interpersonal communication

among relatives and friends.

Consumers' high trust in governments and experts

fails to fully alleviate anxiety, reflecting the long-

term impact of historical security incidents on

consumer psychology. The government should

strengthen the transparency of supervision, disclose

the test results in real time, and reconstruct public

information through expert interpretation and case

display. Brands should take the initiative to disclose

supply chain information to reduce consumers'

doubts.

95% of consumers change their purchase

decisions because they accept negative

information, and verification behavior is highly

correlated with decision-making. It is suggested

to establish a one-stop platform of "crisis

response-information validating - decision

support". Media organizations can integrate

official briefings, expert readings, and

community user feedback to help consumers get

reliable information quickly.

For the limitation of the present study, the sample

size of this study is small, with only 21

questionnaires, and it focuses on the highly-educated

groups in first-tier cities. In the future, it should be

extended to different city levels, educational

backgrounds, and income groups to enhance the

external validity of the study. In addition, the study

focuses on immediate behavioral responses, and a

longitudinal research design can be adopted in the

future to analyze the long-term impact of consumers'

recovery of brand loyalty and changes in information

habits after crisis events.

The role of TPE may be influenced by cultural

values, such as the difference between collectivism

and individualism. The subsequent comparison of

crisis transmission modes in different countries or

cultural backgrounds reveals the moderating effect of

cultural differences on cognitive bias and behavioral

decision-making to improve the universality of the

study.

Given the new media context, a large amount of

social media big data should be combined in the

future to portray the dynamic mechanism of crisis

communication more comprehensively.

5 CONCLUSION

This study focuses on the influence of the third-

person effect on the crisis communication and

management of infant milk powder in the context of

new media. Through literature review and

questionnaire analysis, this paper discusses the

mechanism of TPE in crisis communication and its

differentiated driving effect on individual behavior.

Under the background of the infant milk powder

safety incident, this study analyzed the dynamic

relationship between public cognitive bias, such as

TPE intensity and emotional response, and crisis

communication behavior, such as information

forwarding behavior and purchase decision

adjustment, using the SPSS analysis method, and

proposed corresponding solutions.

TPE still plays a significant role in the context of

new media. The study found that in the crisis of infant

milk powder, individuals generally overestimated the

impact of negative media information on others,

resulting in more support for boycotting related

brands or products. This cognitive bias has become an

important driving force for crisis transmission.

The research found that there are differences

between the age and information behavior of the

respondents: Older individuals are more likely to

share and verify information, while younger

individuals are less concerned about the safety of

infant formula. The higher the education level, the

more dependent on authoritative information sources,

and the higher the anxiety level; Less educated

individuals rely more on recommendations from

friends and family. As a result of negative

information, 95% of respondents will change their

purchase decisions, and information verification

behavior is highly correlated with decision

adjustment, mainly based on government

notifications.

The suggestions for the above conclusions are as

follows: to design hierarchical communication

strategies for people of different ages and education

levels, strengthen the dissemination of authoritative

information, stablish a one-stop information

integration platform of "crisis response-information

verification - decision support", future studies should

pay attention to the differences of TPE in different

cultural backgrounds, such as collectivist society and

individualistic society, and combine the big data of

major social media to dynamically track the crisis

communication mechanism.

This study deepens the application of TPE in the

field of crisis communication, reveals the relationship

between cognitive bias and behavioral decision-

Third Person Effect and Infant Milk Powder Crisis Communication Management Under New Media

435

making, and provides empirical support for crisis

communication theory. The layered governance

strategy and information platform construction plan

proposed by the institute provide an operable path for

crisis communication between the government, the

public, and corporate media, which can effectively

reduce public panic and rebuild trust. The research

sample still has limitations, but at the same time, it

lays a foundation for future comparative research and

expansion between different regional cultures and

calls for longitudinal tracking and big data capture to

comprehensively analyze the long-term dynamics of

crisis transmission.

This study emphasizes that in the complex

information ecology, it is necessary to mitigate

cognitive bias through precise strategies, build a

multi-party newcomer system, and finally achieve

effective crisis prevention and control and public

psychological stability.

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