The Effect of Information Quality Evaluation on Selective Exposure in Informational Cognitive Dissonance: The Role of Information Novelty

In fictional decision-making, research on selective exposure (the tendency to expose oneself to consistent information and avoid inconsistent information, Festinger, 1957) shows that this phenomenon may be partly due to a biased evaluation quality of information. The present study seeks to establish whether this biased evaluation also occurs with informational dissonance (Vaidis and Gosling, 2011). More specifically, we examined (1) whether an individual’s attitude or behavior may be biased by information perception; and (2) whether this phenomenon was related to the perception of the information’s novelty. In two successive studies, participants evaluated the quality and the novelty of information and their desire to expose themselves to it. The information in the texts dealt with the effects of passive smoking, alcohol, and electromagnetic waves (Study 1) and GMOs (Study 2). For each of these topics, one text emphasized their harmlessness (tobacco and electromagnetic waves) or the positive effects (alcohol and GMOs), whereas the second presented the negative effects on health. The hypotheses were tested using moderated mediation models. The results differed according to the subjects addressed and the novelty of the information submitted. Among several possible explanations for the findings, we suggest that the valence of the texts on items considered harmful for health plays a role

Exposition sélective appliquée aux objets alcool et tabac (influence de la structure et de la mesure de l'attitude)

La théorie de l'exposition sélective postule que l'individu est enclin à s'exposer aux informations consonantes et éviter le contact avec les informations dissonantes (Festinger, 1957). De nombreuses études ne parviennent pas à mettre en évidence un évitement de l'information dissonante. L'une des explications postule que les mesures effectuées sont à l'origine des résultats paraissant contradictoires avec la théorie. Ce travail se focalise principalement sur cette dernière. Pour cela, le travail mené explore le rôle de la structure de l'attitude et analyse l'effet de différentes mesures d'attitude sur les résultats (questionnaire d'attitude, comportement, mesure implicite). En outre, plusieurs mesures originales d'exposition sélective sont mises au point. Enfin, l'ensemble de ces expérimentations porte sur les objets alcool et tabac et permet donc d'apporter un certain nombre d'informations quant à l'impact de publicités et de campagnes de prévention portant sur ces thèmes.According to selective exposure's theory, people tend to expose themselves to consonant information and to avoid discrepant ones (Festinger, 1957). However, many studies do not succeed in highlighting dissonant informations avoidance. Three explanation have been proposed. The first one assumes the existence of many factors that could moderate or modulate the relation between attitude and exposure. The second one do not agree with the existence of these processes and reduces them to a simple context effect. At least, the third one postulates that contradictory results come from measures. This work mainly deals with this last alternative. It explores the structure of attitude and uses different measures (attitude and behavior questionnaires, implicit measure). Furthermore, many new selective exposure measures are elaborated. Finally, all the experiments deal with alcohol and tobacco and allow us to gather information on the real impact of advertising and prevention for these hot topics.RENNES2-BU Centrale (352382101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Exposition sélective et prévention du tabagisme (apport d'une mesure d'attitude implicite dans le renouvellement du paradigme expérimental)

Les campagnes de prévention reposent sur le postulat que l individu prend connaissance des messages qui lui sont proposés. Or, l un des moyens les plus simples pour résister à la persuasion est de ne pas s y confronter. A suivre la théorie de la dissonance cognitive (Festinger, 1957), les individus ont tendance à s exposer aux informations en accord avec leurs opinions et à éviter celles susceptibles de les remettre en cause. Les recherches menées dans ce domaine ne permettent pas de mettre systématiquement en évidence un évitement de l information inconsistante avec les comportements et/ou les attitudes. Une première explication relève de problèmes méthodologiques dans le paradigme expérimental classiquement utilisé (Brock & Balloun, 1967). Ainsi, utiliser des mesures discrètes (Olson & Zanna,1979) et commencer par mesurer l exposition avant l attitude semble permettre la manifestation de l effet (Lavoie & Thompson, 1972, Olson & Zanna, 1979). Une seconde explicitation tient dans la manière dont est mesurée l exposition à l information. Il semble nécessaire que l individu soit réellement confronté à l information (ou pense l être) (Brock & Balloun, 1967). Une troisième explication renvoie à la mesure de l attitude. Dans le paradigme expérimental traditionnellement utilisé, l exposition sélective est étudiée au regard d un comportement et/ou d une attitude auto-rapportée. Or, d une part un comportement n est pas forcément consistant avec une attitude, et, d autre part, les mesures explicites de l attitude sont limitées par la désirabilité sociale et les facultés réduites d introspection. L objectif majeur de cette thèse consiste en la conception de protocoles expérimentaux permettant de mettre en évidence de l exposition sélective envers l information de prévention du tabagisme. Dans cet objectif, un outil de mesure implicite de l attitude (Single Category Association Test Personalized, SC-IAT-P, Bardin, Perrissol, Py, Launay & Escoubès, en révision) a été spécialement développé. Les résultats obtenus attestent de l utilité d une telle mesure dans la mise en évidence du phénomène d exposition sélective. Ils soulignent également, comme facteur de son émergence, l engagement des individus dans leur comportement. De plus, concernant le tabagisme, seule la mesure implicite de l attitude permet de prédire d une part, un changement de comportement et, d autre part, une exposition à l information de prévention.Preventive campaigns are based on the assumption that individual deals with this type of persuasive messages. However, one of the easiest ways to resist to the persuasion is to avoid these messages. According with the theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957), individuals tend to expose themselves to information in accordance with their opinions and avoid all those likely to challenge them. The results of various experiments in this area do not permit to identify a systematic avoidance of information inconsistent with the attitudes of individuals. A first explanation is methodological problems in the traditional experimental paradigm used (Brock and Balloun, 1967). Thus, the use of discrete measures (Olson & Zanna, 1979) and to begin the experimentation by measuring exposure before the attitude seems to produce results more in line with the postulates of the theory (Lavoie & Thompson, 1972, Olson & Zanna, 1979). A second explanation could be the measurement of the exposure to information. It seems necessary that the individual should be actually confronted with the information (or thinks he will be) (Brock & Balloun, 1967). A third explanation could be the use of self-reported measures of attitude and/or behavior. However, on the one hand, the behavior of an individual is not necessarily consistent with his attitude, and, secondly, explicit measures of attitude are limited by social desirability as well as reduced capacity of introspection from individuals. The main goal of this thesis is to design an experimental protocol for studying the phenomenon of selective exposure especially toward smoking. To this aim, a test to measure implicit attitudes (Single Category Implicit Association Test Personalized, Bardin, Perrissol, Py, Launay & Escoubès, under review) has been specially developed. The results demonstrate the usefulness of this measure in the highlighting of selective exposure. It also points out the commitment of individuals in their behavior as a factor in its emergence. Furthermore, smoking, only the measure of implicit attitude predicts a behavioral change and an exposure to preventive information.TOULOUSE2-SCD-Bib. electronique (315559903) / SudocSudocFranceF

Comprendre les liens qu'entretiennent l'attribution de chaleur et de compétence aux Personnes en Situation de Handicap Intellectuel et les modèles social et individuel du handicap

International audienc

Effect of the target and ambivalent attitudes on the appreciation of humor targeting men and women.

Sexist humor (a form of humor that disparages a target based on gender), may promote discrimination (Ford et al., 2014). The present study aimed at demonstrating that 1/ theappreciation and aversiveness of sexist humor targeting men and women depends ofgender (in- group/out-group) and adherence to stereotypes, 2/ prejudices towardswomen predict the evaluation of the jokes targeting women.College students (N=181) completed the Ambivalent sexism Inventory measuringprejudices towards women (Glick & Fiske, 2001) and stereotypes adhesion towardsmen and women (Gender Role Stereotypes Scale, Mills et al. 2018). One month later,they rated four jokes targeting men or women based on their perceived appreciationand aversiveness.Results : The effect of the gender disparaged by the jokes and the effect of reading thesexist jokes on prejudices were controlled. Results revealed that the more participants(men and women) presented prejudices about women, the more they appreciated jokestargeting women (β = .392, t(159) = 5.36, p .16). Results will be discussedregarding the scientific literature, especially the prejudiced norm theory (Ford et al.,2004) and the normative window of prejudices (Crandall et al., 2013)

From risk perception to information selection…And not the other way round: Selective exposure mechanisms in the field of genetically modified organisms

International audienc

Effet du groupe social et des préjugés implicites sur la perception de l’humour de dénigrement

International audienc

Exposition sélective aux informations de prévention et attitude implicite envers le tabac

International audienc