Television program avoidance and personality

Recent communication research indicates that approach and avoidance constitute two separate yet co-existing processes during media exposure. While many studies address TV approach behavior, little is known about TV avoidance behavior. Furthermore, personality has yet to be linked to avoidance behavior. This study analyzes the influence of personality on TV program avoidance. Data show that the "Big Five" personality characteristics (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness) and Risk and Fight Willingness influence program avoidance, albeit to varying degrees. While the specific correlations are discussed in the paper, the results generally reveal that the combination of personality and avoidance has added value in terms of understanding of TV using behavior compared to the frequently analyzed link between personality and approach. For nearly all personality characteristics, data show that the avoidance perspective is more than the inversion of the approach perspective. The findings are discussed with reference to gratification and selectivity research

Partisan Selective Exposure on Social Media During the 2020 Presidential Election

This study examines selective exposure and selective avoidance on social media during the 2020 presidential election. 147 voters participated in the survey conducted using Qualtrics. The purpose of this study was to understand whether selective exposure and avoidance behaviors differed based on voting outcome (Trump or Biden), and to test whether political ideological polarization was reflected in news consumption through social media. Taken together, the results indicate that although both voting bases engaged in selective exposure and avoidance, the propensity was the same between Trump and Biden voters. Additionally, results confirm existing hypotheses that strength of political ideology positively correlates with selective exposure. However, results challenge whether there is a relationship between strength of political ideology and selective avoidance. Taken together, this study contributes to existing literature by providing preliminary evidence that, during the 2020 presidential election, polarization between members of political parties was reflected on social media through both news consumption and disengagement with attitude-incongruent information

Time Well Spent: Exploring the Role of Attitude and Topic Importance on Selective Exposure to Agricultural Messages

New digital technologies, such as Web 3.0 and algorithms, allow social media users to customize their feeds, creating their own information bubble, which tends to align with prior beliefs and/or attitude. This action of seeking information that emphasizes or confirms pre-existing beliefs is called confirmation bias, which is often expressed through selective exposure. Although previous studies have explored selective exposure in the context of political and health communications, limited research has been completed related to this phenomenon in agricultural communications. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the effects of attitude and topic importance on selective exposure to different agricultural messages. Using a quasi-experimental design, this study used a Qualtrics questionnaire to collect data from undergraduate students in a laboratory setting. Participants provided their attitudes and topic important for two agricultural issues. A fictional Twitter feed was created that linked to four blog posts that served as the message stimuli. To determine selective exposure, we recorded how many blog posts they selected and how long they spent on each message. The results indicated that participants had varying attitudes of the two agricultural topics but had equal views of importance. No significant difference in time spent on the messages on was found. The results indicated that the process of selective exposure is a complex construct that involves many factors. Additional research in this area will help agricultural communicators develop more effective message strategies and understand the role of confirmation bias in information processing

Algorithms vs. Human Nature: A Tale of Selective Exposure

The public’s turn towards news websites and social media for news consumption has sparked anxiety over echo chambers, avoidance of opinion-challenging content, and potentially fragmentation and polarization among sociopolitical groups. Algorithms have specifically been blamed for increasing the ease of filtering out counter-attitudinal online content and potentially exacerbating selective exposure tendencies. However, longstanding classic psychological research has demonstrated the ubiquitous phenomenon of cognitive dissonance and selective exposure far before the internet became the primary tool for news consumption. Research investigating how algorithms directly influence online approach and avoidance behavior is unfortunately scarce. This dissertation work aimed to analyze the impact of an algorithm system during online information consumption on selective exposure behavior. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a neutral condition where presented articles are balanced in attitudinal valence; an algorithm condition where presented articles update to match previous selection behavior; and a motivated condition where participants are encouraged to explore dissimilar viewpoints. Overall, a-priori hypotheses were not supported, and condition had virtually no effect on dependent variables, including selective exposure tendency. However, results provide an in-depth look into perceptual and behavioral processes of highly polarized individuals during the information-seeking process

Volume 46, 2023 Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Complete digitized volume (volume 46) of Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Selective exposure: Exposing a Few Selected Theoretical Aspects

Selective exposure is a phenomenon studied by scholars for decades. Its prominence can be explained by certain potential consequences for democratic societies which include polarization and growing support for extreme views.The media selective exposure approach generated hundreds of publications, however, this growth in new facts and information does not seem to advance much of a paradigmatic consensus on theoretical foundations and practical utility of this line of research.This article aims at assessing whether the key concepts and models of selective exposure represent a cohesive body of knowledge empowering researchers. It also encourages them to seek new knowledge, and test new links. Researchers can also evaluate whether there are some controversial or not sufficiently explicated elements requiring reassessment.This article is a modest effort to assess what is really known and agreed upon in such important pillars of any theory such as definitions and models of selective exposure. This piece also suggests which aspects of selective exposure may need further clarification

Social media and the political behavior of young adults in the 2016 election

The most recent presidential election saw a great divide in Americans\u27 political ideologies (Enli 2017) as well as an increase in social media use in relation to obtaining political news (Gottfried and Shearer 2016). Social media is a growing platform to obtain political news, and this study found that 86% of young adults surveyed saw election news on social media multiple times a day. This study examined how young adults used social media in relation to the 2016 election, including whether or not they used social media\u27s unfriend/unfollow feature to selectively expose themselves to outlets to which they had partisan affinity. The results of the study showed that young liberals were statistically more likely than young conservatives to selectively expose themselves during the election

Reinforcing attitudes in a gatewatching news era: individual-level antecedents to sharing fact-checks on social media

Despite the prevalence of fact-checking, little is known about who posts fact-checks online. Based upon a content analysis of Facebook and Twitter digital trace data and a linked online survey (N = 783), this study reveals that sharing fact-checks in political conversations on social media is linked to age, ideology, and political behaviors. Moreover, an individual’s need for orientation (NFO) is an even stronger predictor of sharing a fact-check than ideological intensity or relevance, alone, and also influences the type of fact-check format (with or without a rating scale) that is shared. Finally, participants generally shared fact-checks to reinforce their existing attitudes. Consequently, concerns over the effects of fact-checking should move beyond a limited-effects approach (e.g., changing attitudes) to also include reinforcing accurate beliefs.Accepted manuscrip

From Context Collapse to “Safe Spaces”:Selective Avoidance Through Tie Dissolution on Social Media

This study examines whether disconnective practices on social media such as unfriending could constitute a form of selective avoidance and investigates its boundary conditions. To do so, we study whether, to what extent, and under which conditions exposure to disagreement on social media predicts politically motivated unfriending. Specifically, we examine how the relationship varies in different relational contexts and whether it is conditioned by opinion minority status. Using survey data collected shortly before the 2017 Chief Executive Election in Hong Kong, we find cross-cutting exposure to be a significant predictor of politically motivated unfriending. This suggests that the disconnective practices represent a form of selective avoidance, but only among a relatively small number of social media users. We also show that only disagreements arising from political discussion with distant others predict unfriending. Furthermore, opinion minorities are more inclined to cut ties in the face of political disagreement than the majorities. Based on these findings, we discuss the weakness of weak ties on social media and characterize selective avoidance as a means to build digital “safe spaces”