It's Not That We Don't Know, It's That We Don't Care: Explaining Why Selective Exposure Polarizes Attitudes

Today audiences can select content that is consonant with their political notions, and they take advantage of this opportunity. Such partisan selective exposure to media outlets has been identified as one of the reasons for attitude polarization. Little research attention, however, has been devoted to the processes underlying this phenomenon. This article advances the understanding of selective exposure by testing whether its effect on attitude polarization is attributable to people's familiarity with arguments that reinforce or challenge their own opinions. A sample of politically engaged extremists (N = 440) was subjected to a structured interview. As hypothesized, users of partisan media were more familiar with arguments reinforcing their views and, as a result, more prone to polarization. Knowledge of challenging arguments, however, was not affected by consumption of partisan media, nor did it promote depolarization. Results are discussed in light of two conflicting theories: the persuasion and the motivational-reasoning model.