Abstract
In this study, we analyzed the relationship between confirmation bias, which causes people to preferentially view information that supports their opinions and beliefs, and web search behavior. In an online user study, we controlled confirmation bias by presenting prior information to participants that manipulated their impressions of health search topics and analyzed their behavioral logs during web search tasks. We found that web search users with poor health literacy and negative prior beliefs about the health search topic did not spend time examining the list of web search results, and these users demonstrated bias in webpage selection. In contrast, web search users with high health literacy and negative prior beliefs about the search topic spent more time examining the list of web search results. In addition, these users attempted to browse webpages that present different opinions. No significant difference in web search behavior was observed between users with positive prior beliefs about the search topic and those with neutral belief.
Highlights
The credibility of web information has become a serious social issue
The results demonstrated that when the participant’s eHEALS score was low, the BIASED(−) group spent less time browsing the search engine results pages (SERPs) than the NEUTRAL group, tended to click on the higher-ranked search results, and viewed pages that were inconsistent with their prior belief less frequently
To divide users into groups with and without confirmation bias, we provided the participants with prior information to manipulate their impressions of the given search topic
Summary
The credibility of web information has become a serious social issue. For example, Sillence et al reported that more than half of the health information available on the web has not been verified by experts (Sillence et al, 2004). If web search users may believe misinformation, they cannot distinguish correct and incorrect web information. People can believe incorrect or low-quality information due to “confirmation bias,” which is a concept defined in cognitive psychology. Confirmation bias, i.e., the tendency to preferentially view information that is consistent with one’s opinions or hypotheses, has a significant impact on decision making (Nickerson, 1998; Kahneman, 2011). When user X performs a web search to obtain information about food Y’s safety, they unconsciously seek to support the idea that food Y is harmful to their health; user X will preferentially browse negative information about food Y, even if that information is incorrect or low-quality
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