Abstract
The present study attempted to predict selective exposure to media messages as a function of personality and situation, which has rarely been examined in prior relevant research. Employing a quasi-experimental method, the interplay between prevailing perceived threat from the economic crisis that started in 2008 and each of the two personality types when dealing with threat - repression and sensitization - was examined to predict online news selection behavior, as unobtrusively recorded. A significant interaction between perceived threat and sensitization tendency was obtained for both the selection of financial crisis-related news and avoidance of financial crisis-unrelated news. The implications of this exclusive pattern of online news selection behavior are discussed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 59-69 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of Media Psychology |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2014 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Economic crisis
- Perceived threat
- Repression
- Selective exposure
- Sensitization
