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Monkey see, monkey do: The effect of social influence on selective‐exposure bias
Author(s) -
Adams John Milton,
Hart Will,
Richardson Kyle,
Tortoriello Gregory K.,
Rentschler Abby
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2375
Subject(s) - psychology , normative , social psychology , selective attention , attentional bias , norm (philosophy) , normative social influence , selection bias , cognition , medicine , philosophy , epistemology , pathology , neuroscience , political science , law
Selective‐exposure bias refers to the tendency to predominantly seek out attitude‐consistent information and avoid attitude‐inconsistent information. Although researchers have proposed and tested several underlying psychological factors that might contribute to this tendency, the potential role of social influence has not been addressed. In the present research, we address this issue. In four experiments (total N = 645), participants’ selective‐exposure bias was significantly reduced when the bias was portrayed as non‐normative (vs. normative). In Experiment 4, we obtained evidence for the possibility that this social‐norm manipulation could result in effects on attitudes through information selection. Overall, this research contributes novel evidence for the effect of social influence on selective‐exposure bias.