5.1.2. Procedures and Materials
The experiment used a single factorial between-groups design with
independent (experimentally introduced perceived trust), dependent (risk
perception), and mediating (system processing and heuristic processing)
variables.
Participants were asked to read the low- or high-trust group materials.
The low-trust group read the following: Facts show that the
government is never trustworthy in the face of disaster. In the past,
Wuhan City promoted itself as being a “sponge,” and that it would be
safe from torrential rain. However, in early July 2016, heavy rain hit
Wuhan, causing serious waterlogging throughout the city, posing a great
threat to people’s lives and property. It is understood that in the past
few years of urban construction, Wuhan City did not build an underground
drainage system. Rather, it took the urban face project as the first
development priority. In such an era, what else can be used as a
guarantee for the quality of life of the people?
The high-trust group read the following: Facts show that the
government is always trustworthy in the face of disasters. In early July
2016, torrential rain hit Wuhan. During the disaster, leaders of various
levels of government in Wuhan rushed to the front line of flood control
and disaster relief day and night, fighting for more than 10 days. After
the flood subsided, the Wuhan municipal government held several meetings
to demonstrate the urban construction plan, re-drew extreme weather
prevention plans, and formulated detailed responsibilities of various
departments at all levels to resolutely minimize the flood threats faced
by urban residents in the future.
Thereafter, to test the priming effect, we asked the participants how
much they trust the government (the same as Study 1). Then, they
competed the information processing method questionnaire, the risk
perception questionnaire, and provided basic demographic information.
The information processing method and risk perception questionnaires
were the same as those in Study 2. In this study, the Cronbach’s alpha
coefficients of the system processing dimension, heuristic processing
dimension, and risk perception questionnaire were 0.78, 0.54, and 0.72,
respectively. Finally, participants were informed of the real purpose of
the experiment.