Selective Exposure, Decision Uncertainty, and Cognitive Economy: A New Theoretical Perspective on Confirmatory Information Search

2011/10/01 by Peter Fischer · 1 citation
Decision Sciences · Social Sciences · Psychology · #Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics #Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies #Innovation Diffusion and Forecasting #Cognitive dissonance #Cognition #Information processing #Psychology #Cognitive psychology #Confirmatory factor analysis #Perspective (graphical) #Information processing theory #Social psychology #Computer science #Artificial intelligence #Machine learning #Structural equation modeling

paper · doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00386.x

openalex publication_date 2011/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

Abstract We propose that a variety of findings on selective exposure effects (confirmatory information search) and their different underlying psychological processes can be integrated utilizing a new model based upon perceived decision uncertainty and cognitive economy. The proposed model assumes that (a) perceived decision uncertainty is negatively related to the extent of engagement in confirmatory information search; (b) that decision makers are fundamentally motivated to preserve cognitive energy; and (c) that the cognitive processing of decision‐consistent information requires fewer cognitive resources than the processing of decision‐inconsistent information. By employing these three basic assumptions on cognitive economy and confirmatory information processing, we can integrate classic motivational (dissonance) and cognitive (informational) accounts of selective exposure.

Citations

• Motivated Reasoning and Performance on the was on Selection Task
• Development of an Integrated Earth System Model for Prediction of Global Environmental Changes
• Reflecting on Six Decades of Selective Exposure Research: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities
• Selective exposure and decision framing: The impact of gain and loss framing on confirmatory information search after decisions
• Motivated skepticism: Use of differential decision criteria for preferred and nonpreferred conclusions.
• Confirmation, disconfirmation, and information in hypothesis testing.
• Threat and selective exposure: The moderating role of threat and decision context on confirmatory information search after decisions.
• The case for motivated reasoning.
• Recent Research on Selective Exposure to Information
• Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk
• Confirmation bias in sequential information search after preliminary decisions: An expansion of dissonance theoretical research on selective exposure to information.

Cited by

• Selective exposure theory [wikipedia]