Passive learning and incidental exposure to news

Abstract

Three criteria for political learning are opportunity, ability, and motivation. Models of passive learning call into question whether motivation is a necessary condition for learning about politics. Passive learning contends that incidental, or unintended, exposure to political content can produce learning among those unmotivated to view the content. To date, researchers have not found a way to conclusively test the idea of passive learning. By designing an experiment that gives individuals a choice in media content, we propose one strategy for testing passive learning among the unmotivated. Across four studies, the results illustrate limitations on the circumstances under which passive learning occurs and suggest that learning results from situations where incidental exposure sparks motivation.