A New Measure for the Tendency to Select Ideologically Congruent Political Information: Scale Development and Validation

Authors

  • Yariv Tsfati University of Haifa

Keywords:

selective exposure, selective avoidance, confirmation bias

Abstract

Selective exposure is a popular research construct, but the strategies used to operationalize ideologically congruent exposure in contemporary correlational research are problematic. This article offers a novel approach, asking people directly about their tendency to seek information that is ideologically congruent with their opinions. A new measure for the tendency toward congruent selective exposure is proposed and was tested on three different data sets. In all three studies, confirmatory factor analysis revealed a two-factor model, with one factor representing the tendency to select congruent information and the other representing the tendency to avoid incongruent information.

Author Biography

Yariv Tsfati, University of Haifa

Associate Professor, Department of Communication Haifa University

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Published

2016-01-06

Issue

Vol. 10 (2016)

Section

Articles

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