Self-expression just a click away: Source interactivity impacts on confirmation bias and political attitudes

• Published in: Computers in human behavior Vol. 114; p. 106571
• Main Authors: Sude, Daniel J., Pearson, George D.H., Knobloch-Westerwick, Silvia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elmsford Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Attitudes; Bias; Confirmation bias; Interactivity; Persuasion; Politics; Self expression; Self-expression; Politics; Interactivity; Confirmation bias; Persuasion
• ISSN: 0747-5632; 1873-7692
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2020.106571

Information is now commonly consumed online, often displayed in conjunction with self-expression affordances (i.e., likes, votes) that create a sense of “self as source.” Sundar et al.’s (2015) theory of interactive media effects (TIME) conceptualizes such affordances as source interactivity (SI). An experiment examined medium effects of SI as well as message effects on attitudes. It tracked selective exposure to attitude-consistent vs. –discrepant political messages, to capture confirmation bias, and manipulated SI presence (affordance to up-vote or down-vote articles present or absent) as within-subjects factors. SI use and attitude change were captured. SI reduced selective exposure to attitude-consistent content. However, use of SI affected attitude reinforcement independently as well. Hence, users shaped their own attitudes both by selectively reading articles and expressing their views through SI. Directions for theory development are offered. •An experiment examined source interactivity (SI: up-/down-voting) impacts on confirmation bias and attitude reinforcement.•Custom programmed research software presented political messages and SI while logging voting and selective exposure.•SI (ability to up- or down-vote messages) reduced the confirmation bias.•Independent of exposure, voting on messages in line with prior attitudes reinforced attitudes.