The impacts of nonnegative doctor portrayals on public evaluations and professional attractiveness in medicine

This study explores the impacts of four common nonnegative media portrayals of doctors (i.e., science experts, angels in white, white-coated warriors, and vulnerable groups) on public evaluations (i.e.,stereotype content, emotional responses, and trust) and professional attractiveness (i.e.,willingness to marry or encourage child to become a doctor). Study 1 (N = 216) featured a between-participants design, revealing that the warrior and angel portrayals both led to more favourable ratings for warmth, competence, morality, admiration, reduced contempt, and trust than were observed in the control group. The warrior portrayal consistently received the highest scores in most dimensions, including professional attractiveness. The expert portrayal notably enhanced competence evaluations and reduced contempt, whereas the vulnerable portrayal elicited higher levels of sympathy but was associated with the lowest scores in most other dimensions. Study 2 (N = 320) featured a 3 (portrayal type; within-participants) × 6 (sequence; between-participants) mixed design, revealing that presentation order moderated the effects of such portrayals. The most effective sequence, angel-expert-vulnerable, elicited the highest overall evaluations, whereas the angel-vulnerable-expert sequence was least effective. These findings suggest that not only content but also sequence of portrayals can shape public attitudes towards doctors, thus highlighting relevant implications for health communication and media strategies.