Selective exposure theory
Encyclopedia
Selective exposure is a concept in media and communication research that refers to individuals’ tendency to favor information that reinforces pre-existing views while avoiding information that contradicts their views. This assumption has been explored in tandem with cognitive dissonance
theory, which suggests information consumers strive for a state of cognitive equilibrium. In order to attain this equilibrium, individuals may either reinterpret the information they are exposed to or select information that is consonant with their view.
The premise of selective exposure relies on the assumptions that information-seeking behavior continues, even after an individual has taken a stance on an issue, and that this subsequent information-seeking behavior will be colored by characteristics of the issue that were activated during the decision-making process In this way, selective exposure operates by reinforcing beliefs rather than exposing individuals to a diverse array of viewpoints, which is considered an important aspect of a functioning democracy.
Selective exposure has achieved more relevance and empirical support in recent decades. Some scholars suggest that as media consumers have more options for information, they may tend to select content that confirms their own ideas and avoid information that argues against their opinion.
suggest that individuals strive for cognitive equilibrium and consistency. When they encounter information that is discordant with their pre-existing views, individuals experience an unfavorable psychological state of dissonance, which they are motivated to alleviate. These hypotheses were first proposed by Festinger(1957) and can be summarized with the following basic hypotheses:
In Festinger’s theory, the motivation to alleviate dissonance by seeking out information that is concordant with one’s existing beliefs is the motive for selective exposure. However, subsequent research on selective exposure within dissonance theory produced weak empirical support, until dissonance theory was revised and methods conducive to measuring selective exposure were improved. To date, scholars still argue that empirical results supporting the selective exposure hypothesis are still mixed, possibly due to the issues used in experimental studies, or the failure to simulate an authentic media environment in experiments.
Groups and group norms work as a mediator. For example, one can be strongly disinclined to change to the Democratic Party if their family has voted for Republican for a long time. In this case, the person’s predisposition to the political party is already set, so they don't perceive information about Democratic Party or change voting behavior because of mass communication. Klapper’s third assumption is inter-personal dissemination of mass communication. If someone is already exposed by close friends, which creates predisposition toward something, it will lead increase of exposure to mass communication and eventually reinforce the existing opinion. Opinion leader is also a crucial factor to form predisposition of someone, lead someone to be exposed by mass communication, and after all, existing opinion would be reinforced. Nature of commercial mass media also leads people to select certain type of media contents. Klapper (1960) claimed that people are selecting entertainment, such as family comedy, variety shows, quizzes, and Westerns, because of nature of mass media in a free enterprise society.
involuntarily, even though they might avoid the message from the first time, the process of evasion would occur in their mind. Cooper and Jahoda (1947) studied how the anti-prejudice propaganda can be misunderstood by prejudiced people. When the prejudiced reader confronted the Mr. Biggott cartoon, which contained anti-minority propaganda, their effort to evade their feelings and understand Mr. Biggott’s identification with their own identity would bring about misunderstanding. This kind of evasion occurs because of what individuals often face to accomplish uniformity in everyday life. There is a fear to be isolated from what they belong and also threat for shivering their ego. Therefore, the concept of selective exposure was in the same thread with small effect studies in mass communication in 1940s.
Theory and research on selective exposure=
Selective exposure is hypothesized as a way to respond to or deal with cognitive dissonance
, and suggests that individuals make choices about what types of information to be exposed to and most often they choose information that is consonant with this view. Research has expanded to consider other possible motivations for selective exposure, such as information utility. Furthermore, in response to mixed empirical findings and changes in the media landscape, current scholarship has altered the purview of selective exposure research. This has included focusing on issues instead of political ideology or partisanship, evaluating selective exposure in the context of several issues at one time, and by factoring in the strength of individuals’ attitudes and its effect on selective exposure.
This change in media audiences also is influenced by or influences the finding that trust in the mainstream media continues to decline.
. While previously selective exposure may have been studied as direct effects related to one specific issue or based on an individual's party affiliation, in fact, selective exposure has been shown to be affected by attitude extremity, attitude accessibility, and attitude certainty. For example, those who are high in defensive confidence may be more prone to be exposed to counter-attitudinal information, perhaps because they are confident enough in their stance that they don't think they could be included by the message. Alternatively, those who are less certain about their attitude on an issue may also select dissonant information, perhaps because they are still trying to acquire enough information to secure their stance. Those with conservative political ideologies have also been found to be more likely to expose to information that is dissonant with their view. Selective exposure behaviors can be influenced by political partisanship, interest in politics in general, or those who are habitual news users.
. Research exploring the role of selective exposure specifically in social media
has suggested that using social media may have implications on individuals' exposure to attitude challenging information. Because social media allow individuals to share or be exposed to news via their social network, and social networks tend to include diverse people, this provides an opportunity to encounter dissonant information because it is endorsed by someone in one's network.
After all, people try to arrange the external stimuli to maintain their pleasure, which ultimately let people select certain affect-inducing program, such as music, movie, or other entertainment program. In other words, people manage their mood by selecting certain kind of entertainment to exposure themselves; mood management theory
was also rooted by this affective-dependent theory.
Furthermore, people will select media based on their moods. An example of this is if a person is happy they would probably select a comedic movie. If they are bored they might choose action and if they are sad they might select tragedy or a depressing romance. These attitudes and moods also convince people to watch different news outlets based on how they feel. People with conservative beliefs tend to watch Fox news and Democrats usually watch MSNBC.
1**A person with liberal beliefs, who comes home from a hard day at work will probably turn on MSNBC. They would not be in the mood to fight with a news station that has conservative beliefs constantly being portrayed.
2**A woman who just broke up with her boyfriend would probably not be in the mood to watch a romantic movie and would therefore tend to pick a movie that falls into the genre of tragedy.
Critiques of selective exposure research=
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
theory, which suggests information consumers strive for a state of cognitive equilibrium. In order to attain this equilibrium, individuals may either reinterpret the information they are exposed to or select information that is consonant with their view.
The premise of selective exposure relies on the assumptions that information-seeking behavior continues, even after an individual has taken a stance on an issue, and that this subsequent information-seeking behavior will be colored by characteristics of the issue that were activated during the decision-making process In this way, selective exposure operates by reinforcing beliefs rather than exposing individuals to a diverse array of viewpoints, which is considered an important aspect of a functioning democracy.
Selective exposure has achieved more relevance and empirical support in recent decades. Some scholars suggest that as media consumers have more options for information, they may tend to select content that confirms their own ideas and avoid information that argues against their opinion.
"Limited Effects" models of communication
The “limited effects” model of communication emerged in the 1940s with a shift in media effects paradigm. This shift suggested that while media have effects, for example on voting behavior, these effects are limited and influenced indirectly by interpersonal discussions and the influence of opinion leaders. Selective exposure was considered one necessary function in early studies of media’s limited power over citizens’ attitudes and behaviors.Cognitive dissonance theory
Theories related to cognitive dissonanceCognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
suggest that individuals strive for cognitive equilibrium and consistency. When they encounter information that is discordant with their pre-existing views, individuals experience an unfavorable psychological state of dissonance, which they are motivated to alleviate. These hypotheses were first proposed by Festinger(1957) and can be summarized with the following basic hypotheses:
- Dissonance is a state of mental unease and discomfort which helps explain selective perception. It is produced when new information contradicts existing beliefs, attitudes, social norms, or behaviors.
- People often favor consonance because their ideas flow freely into one another and do not create an unbalance.
- The existence of dissonance, being psychologically uncomfortable, will motivate the person to try to reduce dissonance and achieve consonance.
- When dissonance is present, in addition to trying to reduce it, the person will actively avoid situations and information that would likely increase the dissonance.
In Festinger’s theory, the motivation to alleviate dissonance by seeking out information that is concordant with one’s existing beliefs is the motive for selective exposure. However, subsequent research on selective exposure within dissonance theory produced weak empirical support, until dissonance theory was revised and methods conducive to measuring selective exposure were improved. To date, scholars still argue that empirical results supporting the selective exposure hypothesis are still mixed, possibly due to the issues used in experimental studies, or the failure to simulate an authentic media environment in experiments.
Klapper's selective exposure
Joseph Klapper (1960) considered mass communication do not directly influence people, but just reinforce people’s predisposition. Mass communications play a role as a mediator in persuasive communication.- Klapper's five mediating factors and conditions to affect people
- Predispositions and the related processes of selective exposure, selective perception, and selective retention.
- The groups, and the norms of groups, to which the audience members belong.
- Interpersonal dissemination of the content of communication
- The exercise of opinion leadership
- The nature of mass media in a free enterprise society.
- Three basic concepts:
- Selective exposure - people keep away from communication of opposite hue.
- Selective Perception - If people are confronting unsympathetic material, they do not perceive it, or make it fit for their existing opinion.
- Selective retention - Furthermore, they just simply forget the unsympathetic material.
Groups and group norms work as a mediator. For example, one can be strongly disinclined to change to the Democratic Party if their family has voted for Republican for a long time. In this case, the person’s predisposition to the political party is already set, so they don't perceive information about Democratic Party or change voting behavior because of mass communication. Klapper’s third assumption is inter-personal dissemination of mass communication. If someone is already exposed by close friends, which creates predisposition toward something, it will lead increase of exposure to mass communication and eventually reinforce the existing opinion. Opinion leader is also a crucial factor to form predisposition of someone, lead someone to be exposed by mass communication, and after all, existing opinion would be reinforced. Nature of commercial mass media also leads people to select certain type of media contents. Klapper (1960) claimed that people are selecting entertainment, such as family comedy, variety shows, quizzes, and Westerns, because of nature of mass media in a free enterprise society.
The Evasion of Propaganda
When prejudiced people confront anti-prejudice propagandaPropaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
involuntarily, even though they might avoid the message from the first time, the process of evasion would occur in their mind. Cooper and Jahoda (1947) studied how the anti-prejudice propaganda can be misunderstood by prejudiced people. When the prejudiced reader confronted the Mr. Biggott cartoon, which contained anti-minority propaganda, their effort to evade their feelings and understand Mr. Biggott’s identification with their own identity would bring about misunderstanding. This kind of evasion occurs because of what individuals often face to accomplish uniformity in everyday life. There is a fear to be isolated from what they belong and also threat for shivering their ego. Therefore, the concept of selective exposure was in the same thread with small effect studies in mass communication in 1940s.
Theory and research on selective exposure=
Selective exposure is hypothesized as a way to respond to or deal with cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
, and suggests that individuals make choices about what types of information to be exposed to and most often they choose information that is consonant with this view. Research has expanded to consider other possible motivations for selective exposure, such as information utility. Furthermore, in response to mixed empirical findings and changes in the media landscape, current scholarship has altered the purview of selective exposure research. This has included focusing on issues instead of political ideology or partisanship, evaluating selective exposure in the context of several issues at one time, and by factoring in the strength of individuals’ attitudes and its effect on selective exposure.
This change in media audiences also is influenced by or influences the finding that trust in the mainstream media continues to decline.
Attitude extremity and selective exposure
Recent communication research has found that audiences are becoming increasingly polarized and selective exposure phenomena may operate uniquely among those with extreme attitudesAttitude (psychology)
An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is often referred to as the attitude object...
. While previously selective exposure may have been studied as direct effects related to one specific issue or based on an individual's party affiliation, in fact, selective exposure has been shown to be affected by attitude extremity, attitude accessibility, and attitude certainty. For example, those who are high in defensive confidence may be more prone to be exposed to counter-attitudinal information, perhaps because they are confident enough in their stance that they don't think they could be included by the message. Alternatively, those who are less certain about their attitude on an issue may also select dissonant information, perhaps because they are still trying to acquire enough information to secure their stance. Those with conservative political ideologies have also been found to be more likely to expose to information that is dissonant with their view. Selective exposure behaviors can be influenced by political partisanship, interest in politics in general, or those who are habitual news users.
Selective exposure and new media
Research suggests that exposure to and the selection of information has become even more specialized in the era of new mediaNew media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
. Research exploring the role of selective exposure specifically in social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
has suggested that using social media may have implications on individuals' exposure to attitude challenging information. Because social media allow individuals to share or be exposed to news via their social network, and social networks tend to include diverse people, this provides an opportunity to encounter dissonant information because it is endorsed by someone in one's network.
Selective exposure, mood management and entertainment
Selective exposure and entertainment media research suggests that rather than simply specific to individuals’ overall “taste” or preferences in entertainment, selective exposure is influenced by mood, affect, and emotion. Instead this research suggests that taste in media is situational and contextual.Affective-dependent theory of stimulus arrangement
Zillmann and Bryant (1985) developed affective-dependent theory of stimulus arrangement in the chapter of their edited book, Selective exposure to communication.- Basic Assumptions
- people tend to minimize exposure to negative, aversive stimuli
- people tend to maximize exposure to pleasurable stimuli.
After all, people try to arrange the external stimuli to maintain their pleasure, which ultimately let people select certain affect-inducing program, such as music, movie, or other entertainment program. In other words, people manage their mood by selecting certain kind of entertainment to exposure themselves; mood management theory
Mood management theory
Mood management theory posits that the consumption of messages, particularly entertaining messages, is capable of altering prevailing mood states, and that the selection of specific messages for consumption often serves the regulation of mood states .-History:The idea of selecting media content in...
was also rooted by this affective-dependent theory.
Furthermore, people will select media based on their moods. An example of this is if a person is happy they would probably select a comedic movie. If they are bored they might choose action and if they are sad they might select tragedy or a depressing romance. These attitudes and moods also convince people to watch different news outlets based on how they feel. People with conservative beliefs tend to watch Fox news and Democrats usually watch MSNBC.
- Examples:
1**A person with liberal beliefs, who comes home from a hard day at work will probably turn on MSNBC. They would not be in the mood to fight with a news station that has conservative beliefs constantly being portrayed.
2**A woman who just broke up with her boyfriend would probably not be in the mood to watch a romantic movie and would therefore tend to pick a movie that falls into the genre of tragedy.
Definitions related to selective exposure and mood management
- Excitatory Homeostasis - Tendency of individuals to choose entertainment to achieve an optimal level of arousal.
- Intervention Potential - Ability of a message to engage or absorb an aroused individual's attention or cognitive-processing resources.
- Message-Behavioral Affinity - Communication that has a high degree of similarity with affective state.
- Hedonic ValenceValence (psychology)Valence, as used in psychology, especially in discussing emotions, means the intrinsic attractiveness or aversiveness of an event, object, or situation. However, the term is also used to characterize and categorize specific emotions. For example, the emotions popularly referred to as "negative",...
- Positive or negative nature of a message.
Relation to C. S. Herrman's Exposure Theory
- Basic assumptions of Herrman's theory:
- Exposure is a state of protected or unprotected risk or danger;
- Exposure can be positive (adaptive) or negative (maladaptive)
- Protected exposure presupposes the use of identification or projection to permit the feeling of security or safety despite the reality of risk or danger
- Unprotected exposure is a state of risk or danger without the availability of identification or projection to obviate feelings producing maladaptive paralysis
- Application to Selective exposure processes
- People desire protected exposure, so desire to identify with what induces such, for example, favored opinions
- People desire to avoid unprotected exposure, so attempt to project away from a possible identification with undesirable triggers/stimuli, thus away from undesirable ideas or ideologies
Critiques of selective exposure research=
- Possible influence by factors other than a person's emotional state.
- Difficulty to measure long-term effect.
- Overlook the importance of cognitive processes.
- Not suit for information and education media.
- Possibility that negative stimuli provide enjoyment by overcoming it.
See also
- Cognitive biasCognitive biasA cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations. Implicit in the concept of a "pattern of deviation" is a standard of comparison; this may be the judgment of people outside those particular situations, or may be a set of independently verifiable...
- Expectation bias
- Hostile media effectHostile media effectThe hostile media effect, sometimes called the hostile media phenomenon, refers to the finding that people with strong biases toward an issue perceive media coverage as biased against their opinions, regardless of the reality...
- Selective perceptionSelective perceptionSelective perception may refer to any number of cognitive biases in psychology related to the way expectations affect perception.For instance, several studies have shown that students who were told they were consuming alcoholic beverages perceived themselves as being "drunk", exhibited fewer...
- Mood management theoryMood management theoryMood management theory posits that the consumption of messages, particularly entertaining messages, is capable of altering prevailing mood states, and that the selection of specific messages for consumption often serves the regulation of mood states .-History:The idea of selecting media content in...