Avoiding the other side? An eye-tracking study of selective exposure and selective avoidance effects in response to political advertising

Autor(en)

Desiree Schmuck, Miriam Tribastone, Jörg Matthes, Franziska Marquart, Eva Maria Bergel

Abstrakt

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 attitude-discrepant 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.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft

Externe Organisation(en)

Universität Wien, University of Amsterdam (UvA)

Journal

Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications

Band

32

Seiten

158-164

Anzahl der Seiten

7

ISSN

1864-1105

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000265

Publikationsdatum

07-2020

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

508007 Kommunikationswissenschaft, 508014 Publizistik

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Communication, Social Psychology, Applied Psychology

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/85faa150-0024-4437-bf37-697cf1f38817