Confirming Bias Without Knowing? Automatic Pathways Between Media Exposure and Selectivity

Abstract

This study moves beyond previous research by demonstrating how prior exposure to stereotypical content can reinforce the selection of comparable biased news content and by clarifying its intergroup and interpersonal consequences. With two experiments ( N = 236, N = 270), we show that media effects and selectivity of biased media content about Arabic migrant workers are connected by automatic (i.e., implicit) stereotypes. The findings reveal that exposure to moderate doses of stereotypic news primes affects the selection of biased news via implicit stereotypes and subsequently shifts intergroup and interpersonal outcomes in the direction of the activated biased beliefs. These effects did not surface for high doses of stereotypic news primes, suggesting that individuals resist and inhibit activation processes when exposure is perceived to be too extreme. As subtle forms of bias are omnipresent in news environments and implicit stereotypes operate partly under the radar of conscious awareness, they may affect selection without individuals being aware of it. The findings imply that audiences’ biased selectivity should not be seen in isolation from prior media exposure.

Atheism in US and UK Newspapers: Negativity about Non-Belief and Non-Believers

“…Once an opinion about another group-including a prejudice-takes root, it can be difficult to change (Lupia et al 2015, p. 1; but see Mastro and Tukachinsky 2014;Schemer 2012). Media consumers may thus be left with conscious or subconscious negative attitudes (Erisen et al 2014;Arendt and Northup 2015;Pérez 2016;Kroon et al 2020). Scholars have shown how this dynamic operates with respect to marginalized groups in a wide variety of settings (Eberl et al 2018).…”