Political social identity and selective exposure

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Politics is not merely concerned with beliefs and ideology; it also encapsulates components of social identity. This study examines the consumption of partisan media, via the prism of social-identity theory. Strength of political identity is proposed as an explanation for selective exposure. Additionally, the study suggests that by creating a conflict between orthogonal social identities, selective exposure can be reduced. Two survey experiments were conducted (N = 300), each experiment focusing on one element of media: the identity of the writer, or the identity of the persona at the center of the news story. Both experiments demonstrated that political social identity influences media selection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)867-889
Number of pages23
JournalMedia Psychology
Volume22
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 2 Nov 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Social Psychology
  • Communication
  • Applied Psychology

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