Avoiding the other side? An eye-tracking study of selective exposure and selective avoidance effects in response to political advertising
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Partisan selective exposure, the phenomenon of selectively attending to information that is in line with one's political views, has received extensive research attention. Researchers have thus far largely neglected, however, to examine the tendency to avoid attitudediscrepant information, that is, selective avoidance. Selective avoidance can be considered a different phenomenon that is not necessarily implied by, nor only occurs simultaneously with, selective exposure. This study investigates these two separate phenomena, for the first time, using eye-tracking methodology. We exposed participants to political ads by liberal and conservative parties placed next to neutral political ads and tracked eye movements unobtrusively. Findings showed that individuals paid more visual attention to political ads that were consistent with their partisan ideology. Additionally, we found that individuals tended to avoid political ads that were inconsistent with their partisan ideology, which provides some evidence for selective avoidance processes. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Journal of Media Psychology |
Volume | 32 |
Issue number | 3 |
Pages (from-to) | 158-164 |
Number of pages | 7 |
ISSN | 1864-1105 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
- Eye-tracking, Partisan ideology, Political advertising, Selective avoidance, Selective exposure
Research areas
ID: 255169001