What Predicts Selective Exposure: Testing Attitudes, Credibility and Social Identity

• In Event: Selective Exposure and Its Influences

Abstract

This paper offers a critical test of three factors predicting selective exposure to news articles about sociopolitical issues. Two original selection studies on systematic samples of adult Americans examined whether prior attitudes, source credibility, and/or individual social identity drive the selection of political content. Both studies offered articles that were (1) pro- or counter-attitudinal with regard to individual prior attitudes on two political issues, and from (2) high versus low credibility sources conceptualized in two different ways, and (3) featuring participants’ social ingroup or outgroup, based on two different social groups. Unobtrusively logged behavioral selection data suggest that prior attitudes, and their strength and importance in Study 1, more strongly predict pro-attitudinal exposure than both source credibility and social identity.

Author

• Magdalena Wojcieszak, University of California, Davis