Acting on surprise: emotional response, multiple-channel information seeking and vaccination in the H1N1 flu epidemic

A survey conducted among college students (N = 205), one of the groups most susceptible to the H1N1 influenza virus, examined how people responded to the unexpected public health crisis from their initial emotional reaction, to information seeking, to vaccination behavior. Results showed that surprise upon first learning of the H1N1 flu was positively related to multiple-channel information seeking. People who used multiple channels to get updated about the pandemic reported more favorable attitudes about getting vaccinated against the H1N1 flu and were more likely to regard getting vaccinated as the norm. These cognitive antecedents were positively related to their actual vaccination behavior.