Abstract
Conventional economic theory depicts human-decision making as logical and rational. However, recent research has demonstrated that humans act as an irrational agent more often than not, and will habitually prioritize attitudes, emotions, values, and beliefs over a marginal analysis in their decision-making calculus. As such, individuals will regularly undertake actions in order to avoid conflicts with their beliefs. In particular, information contradicting an individual’s beliefs may be avoided to preserve an individual’s identity (information avoidance). This paper investigates the phenomena of belief-based utility and information avoidance in the political realm, an area in which the literature regarding the aforementioned theories are relatively sparse. Specifically, we explored whether a reminder of political affiliation could influence subjects to avoid reading op-eds possessing headlines indicative of a position commonly held by an opposing political party. The hypothesis was tested through a survey distributed on Amazon Mechanical Turk, where half the participants received a reminder while the other half did not. The results suggest a statistically significant relationship between reminders and media access behavior — a reminder can have a demonstrable effect on media access behavior by causing individuals to avoid op-eds that advocate for the viewpoints of a conflicting political party. This has multiple implications (increasing political polarization, expanding influence of private interest groups, etc.) regarding media viewership habits for the individual undertaking decisions that may deprive them of useful information.
Highlights
For much of the 20th century, normative economic theory considered human decision-making to be prudent and rational
In regard to political affiliations, 83 (46%) respondents identified themselves as Republicans, while 99 (54%) respondents identified as Democrats
This research study aimed to explore the effect of reminders of political affiliation on an individual’s political media viewing habits
Summary
For much of the 20th century, normative economic theory considered human decision-making to be prudent and rational. Conventional economic models dictated that individuals would seek out information if and only if that information was conducive to their decision-making process. In this framework, the myriad factors that help inform an individual’s choice, their beliefs and attitudes, are viewed as responsive to information, all updating optimally in response to the information that he/she receives (Reyna & Rivers, 2008). A majority of people hold their personal beliefs extremely dearly and will defend their beliefs when they perceive them being threatened In this way, initial beliefs held by individuals become increasingly resistant to change. Belief-based utility, when considered in an individual’s decision-making calculus, can offer explanations for inconsistent information seeking and information avoiding behavior
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