One-Track Minds? Cognitive Needs, Media Diet, and Overestimation of Public Support for One's Views

This study suggests that diversity of media diet mediates the relation between cognitive needs and accurate perception of public opinion. It was hypothesized that people with high need for cognition will expose themselves to various media outlets that support and that oppose their views; as a result, they will develop a more accurate perception of public opinion. In contrast, people with high need to evaluate will show preferences to like-minded media outlets and, consequently, will perceive their opinion to be more popular than it actually is. The hypotheses were tested using a survey conducted with a sample of 450 Israeli participants. The results confirmed the hypotheses regarding need for cognition, but the results regarding need to evaluate pointed to cognitive biases other than selective exposure.