Abstract
Literature suggests that while without doubt people engage in selective exposure to information, this does not entail that they also engage in selective avoidance of opinion-challenging information<em>.</em> However, cross-cutting exposure does not always lead to dispassionate deliberation. In this commentary I explore psychological conditions as they apply to attitude-based selection and make an argument that selectivity does not stop at exposure but continues as audiences engage with information they encounter and incorporate in their decision-making. I propose the theory of motivated reasoning as a rich theoretical underpinning that helps us understand selective exposure and selective information processing.
Highlights
It is assumed that the prospects for a deliberate democracy are dire in a society where individuals seek only information that supports their beliefs and limits their exposure to other perspectives (Cohen, 1997)
The affordances provided by the current media environment for selective exposure represent the worst nightmare for deliberate theorists as they create the perfect conditions for ideological echo chambers
This line of scholarship argues that seeking opinion-reinforcing and avoiding opinionchallenging information are not equivalent behavior based on empirical findings that suggest that while audiences seek out ideologically aligning media, they do not actively avoid cross-cutting news sources
Summary
It is assumed that the prospects for a deliberate democracy are dire in a society where individuals seek only information that supports their beliefs and limits their exposure to other perspectives (Cohen, 1997). The affordances provided by the current media environment for selective exposure represent the worst nightmare for deliberate theorists as they create the perfect conditions for ideological echo chambers. The concept of selective exposure is not new (Klapper, 1960) and the literature already offers rich theorizing on the topic. In this commentary I explore psychological conditions as they apply to attitude-based selection and make an argument that selectivity does not stop at exposure but continues as audiences engage with information they encounter and incorporate in their decision-making. I emphasize the importance of understanding of processes that lead to selective exposure and selective information processing and propose motivated reasoning as a rich theoretical underpinning that helps us understand both
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