Platform-dependent effects of incidental exposure to political news on political knowledge and political participation

IF 9 1区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL

Computers in Human Behavior Pub Date : 2022-02-01 DOI:10.1016/j.chb.2021.107048

Sangwon Lee , Andreas Nanz , Raffael Heiss

{"title":"Platform-dependent effects of incidental exposure to political news on political knowledge and political participation","authors":"Sangwon Lee , Andreas Nanz , Raffael Heiss","doi":"10.1016/j.chb.2021.107048","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Encountering news on social media is common even for individuals not actively looking for it – a phenomenon referred to as incidental exposure to political news (IE). A growing body of research has explored how IE on social media relates to political knowledge and participation. Yet, little research has considered that the effects of IE may differ across platforms. This study examined platform-dependent effects (across Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) of IE on political knowledge and participation using panel data collected during the 2020 U.S. election. We found that IE might not be entirely beneficial. While IE on Facebook and Twitter does not affect knowledge or participation, findings suggest that IE on YouTube can dampen political learning. However, at the same time, IE on YouTube leads to more political participation, especially for those with higher level of need for orientation. This raises important questions of the consequences of uninformed political participation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48471,"journal":{"name":"Computers in Human Behavior","volume":"127 ","pages":"Article 107048"},"PeriodicalIF":9.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074756322100371X/pdfft?md5=755878bf38ca773f3a6f59338a9eecb8&pid=1-s2.0-S074756322100371X-main.pdf","citationCount":"16","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Computers in Human Behavior","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074756322100371X","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 16

Abstract

Encountering news on social media is common even for individuals not actively looking for it – a phenomenon referred to as incidental exposure to political news (IE). A growing body of research has explored how IE on social media relates to political knowledge and participation. Yet, little research has considered that the effects of IE may differ across platforms. This study examined platform-dependent effects (across Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) of IE on political knowledge and participation using panel data collected during the 2020 U.S. election. We found that IE might not be entirely beneficial. While IE on Facebook and Twitter does not affect knowledge or participation, findings suggest that IE on YouTube can dampen political learning. However, at the same time, IE on YouTube leads to more political participation, especially for those with higher level of need for orientation. This raises important questions of the consequences of uninformed political participation.

查看原文本刊更多论文

偶然接触政治新闻对政治知识和政治参与的平台依赖效应

在社交媒体上遇到新闻是很常见的，即使对于那些不积极寻找新闻的人来说也是如此——这种现象被称为偶然接触政治新闻(IE)。越来越多的研究探索了社交媒体上的IE与政治知识和政治参与之间的关系。然而，很少有研究考虑到IE的影响可能在不同的平台上有所不同。本研究利用2020年美国大选期间收集的小组数据，考察了IE对政治知识和参与的平台依赖效应(在Facebook、Twitter和YouTube上)。我们发现IE可能不是完全有益的。虽然Facebook和Twitter上的IE不会影响知识或参与，但研究结果表明，YouTube上的IE会抑制政治学习。然而，与此同时，YouTube上的IE导致了更多的政治参与，特别是对于那些对定向需求程度较高的人。这就提出了关于不知情的政治参与后果的重要问题。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Computers in Human Behavior Multiple-

CiteScore

19.10

自引率

4.00%

发文量

381

审稿时长

40 days

期刊介绍： Computers in Human Behavior is a scholarly journal that explores the psychological aspects of computer use. It covers original theoretical works, research reports, literature reviews, and software and book reviews. The journal examines both the use of computers in psychology, psychiatry, and related fields, and the psychological impact of computer use on individuals, groups, and society. Articles discuss topics such as professional practice, training, research, human development, learning, cognition, personality, and social interactions. It focuses on human interactions with computers, considering the computer as a medium through which human behaviors are shaped and expressed. Professionals interested in the psychological aspects of computer use will find this journal valuable, even with limited knowledge of computers.