The Field Situation Heuristics Effect in Online Emergencies: The Formation Mechanism and Differences of Audience Cognitive Bias

Changzheng Yang¹Jin Gao¹Peng Liu^2*

• ¹Department of Journalism and Communication, College of Liberal Arts, Journalism and Communication, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
• ²Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China

In the contemporary digital communication environment, online emergencies often trigger cognitive biases among audiences, affecting the health of public opinion ecosystems and potentially threatening social stability. While existing research has largely focused on the manifestations and consequences of cognitive biases, the formation mechanisms, particularly the role of contextual factors in the online environment, remain understudied. This research integrates field theory and heuristic information processing theory to construct a theoretical framework incorporating situational heuristics, adaptive expectations, and implicit attribution. Using anchoring heuristics, representativeness heuristics, and availability heuristics as independent variables, cognitive bias as the dependent variable, and adaptive expectations and implicit attributions as mediating variables, this study examines how field situational heuristics influence cognitive biases in online emergencies. Structural equation modeling analysis of survey data reveals that (1) the three types of heuristics significantly influence cognitive biases through adaptive expectations and implicit attributions; (2) representativeness heuristics have the strongest impact, followed by availability and anchoring heuristics; (3) demographic variables moderate these effects. The findings provide theoretical insights for improving online public opinion governance and enhancing audience media literacy.