This chapter examines public belief formation in Sweden during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on theories of sociotropic belief formation, we analyze how citizens’ ideology, personal experience, interpersonal talk and media use influence their beliefs about how the coronavirus affects the Swedish society. The findings from analyses of three waves of panel survey data sug…
This chapter has reviewed research on media effects on sociotropic beliefs. After anchoring beliefs in cognitive schema theory, arguing that the significance of media effects depends on preexisting schema characteristics, research on three classic theories of media effects were discussed: agenda setting, cultivation and framing