Trustworthiness cues: Analyzing the effect of inoculation when assessing webpages

This study explores how individuals evaluate the trustworthiness of online content, with a particular focus on whether targeted interventions can shift users' attention from superficial features to deeper, legally and ethically relevant aspects of web page evaluation. Building on data from a previous experimental study, participants were assigned to one of two conditions: an experimental group that viewed a brief video presenting key reliability cues, and a control group that received no exposure. Both groups then evaluated a series of simulated web page images and explained their judgments in open-text responses. A thematic coding of these responses revealed seven primary categories, ranging from superficial elements (such as visual design and linguistic style) to more substantive concerns (such as privacy policies, company transparency, and chatbot disclosure). Statistical analyses showed that participants exposed to the video were significantly more likely to focus on these deeper, credibility-related factors, while those in the control group tended to rely more heavily on surface-level heuristics. These findings suggest that an inoculation-style interventions can meaningfully shift user attention toward more critical and legally relevant features when assessing online trustworthiness.