Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Why Motivations Matter: Information Processing Goals and Their Implications for Selective Exposure to Political Information

Ohio State University, The, Columbus OH

Investigators

Abstract

Recent literature in political communication has demonstrated the proclivity of the American news consumer to seek out political information that serves to confirm prior beliefs. But, the motivations that underlie these behaviors, as well as what impacts these motivations may subsequently have on the consequences of exposure to political information, are less clear. The objective of this project is to contribute to understanding in these areas by applying the concept of information-processing goals - the objectives that the media consumer wishes to accomplish in their information-seeking behaviors - to the phenomena of political media selectivity. This poses two questions: 1) How are information-processing goals influential in how citizens choose political information sources? and, 2) In what ways do these goals moderate the relationship between political information exposure and political attitudes? To this end, a multi-faceted research approach involving original survey data collection and survey experimentation is proposed in an effort to determine both the real-world consequences of information-processing goals on political media preferences and the causal implications of information-processing goals regarding the effect of political media exposure on public opinion and political tolerance. The intellectual merit of this project stems from a decade of research that has identified selective exposure - the preference for information that affirms prior attitudes and the aversion towards information that challenges existing beliefs - as a serious threat to the health of American democracy. While such claims are not without some empirical support, these studies largely operate under a theoretical paradigm that treats all forms of political information exposure as being solely motivated by the innate desire to avoid information that may challenge existing worldviews. However, recent psychological research has suggested that such an approach is simplistic as it neglects to account for a number of other motivations that influence information preferences and subsequently the role of these factors in dictating how new information is processed in the formation of political judgments. Hence, the intellectual contribution of this study involves testing an alternative theoretical approach toward understanding citizens' political media habits, accounting for motivations in the form of information-processing goals. The results of this project should ultimately result in a more nuanced understanding of why individuals prefer the information sources that they do as well as what consequences (i.e. polarization or moderation) can be expected of such information-seeking behaviors. Beyond an improved academic understanding of the correlates and consequences of citizens' political information-seeking habits, this study should also yield broader impacts regarding the consequences for democratic society of citizens' engagement with the political information environment. As numerous scholars have proclaimed, a shift towards selective exposure is thought to manifest increased attitude polarization and intolerance. Further, many of these same scholars argue that the solution to this spiral towards extremity is the promotion of diversity in information-seeking behavior. The expected outcomes of this study, however, would suggest that each of these claims is conditional on the objectives that people wish to accomplish in their political media habits. In other words, if the empirical analysis supports the theoretical importance of information-processing goals, improving democratic society must go beyond making normative claims about which types of political information-seeking strategies are best and instead focus on the promotion of more deliberative mindsets in how people make sense of political information, either through citizenship training or fostering more accountability for the attitudes that people hold about politics.