Alexandria Digital Research Library

The role of need for cognition and credibility assessment in exposure to political information on the internet

Author:
Medders, Ryan Bradley
Degree Grantor:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Communication
Degree Supervisor:
Miriam J. Metzger
Place of Publication:
[Santa Barbara, Calif.]
Publisher:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Creation Date:
2014
Issued Date:
2014
Topics:
Mass Communications, Speech Communication, and Political Science, General
Keywords:
Partisanship
Selective Exposure
Credibility
News
Need for Cognition
Internet
Genres:
Online resources and Dissertations, Academic
Dissertation:
Ph.D.--University of California, Santa Barbara, 2014
Description:

The Internet allows individuals access to an unprecedented amount of news information in human history. However, as several scholars have noted, this abundance of information may encourage selective exposure to attitude-consistent information. Despite this reality, the basic model of selective exposure has seen comparatively little elaboration over the years. This study investigates the effects of two related concepts on selective exposure behaviors: need for cognition and credibility assessment. Using two experimental designs with a non-college adult sample, this study shows that selective exposure to attitude-consistent information is a common behavior. Moreover, although selective exposure behavior is related to credibility assessments, the data revealed that need for cognition generally failed to demonstrate an effect on selective exposure. Implications of the findings are discussed and future directions for research are proposed.

Physical Description:
1 online resource (182 pages)
Format:
Text
Collection(s):
UCSB electronic theses and dissertations
ARK:
ark:/48907/f3kp8091
ISBN:
9781321349818
Catalog System Number:
990045117340203776
Rights:
Inc.icon only.dark In Copyright
Copyright Holder:
Ryan Medders
File Description
Access: Public access
Medders_ucsb_0035D_12322.pdf pdf (Portable Document Format)