Adopting a Parasocial Connection to Overcome Professional Kakoethos in Online Health Information

Background

A conception of ethos as credibility is challenged by the (seemingly) anonymous online environment. Frobish (2013) suggested that classic notions of ethos may no longer apply to the online environment because digital ethos suggests that the notion of credibility may be “freed,” or more fluid, in the online environment. However, this chapter contends that Aristotle’s (2007) artistic and inartistic proofs can still aid in conceptualizing and understanding ethos in online health information messages. Artistic proofs concern the dimensions discursively constructed in a text. Conversely, inartistic proofs address elements extrinsic to the text itself. In order to understand credibility in the online environment, the intrinsic (i.e., that which is available to an audience discursively within a text) must be distinguished from the extrinsic (i.e., that which is the subject position of the text’s author). More specifically, as such expertise solely represents inartistic proof, a traditional medical credibility arising from expert power (see French & Raven, 1959), when divorced from the professional setting of a physical medical space (i.e., a doctor’s office), may not necessarily have the same influence to persuade online health information seekers.