The curiosity effect: Information seeking in the contemporary news environment

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua M Scacco ◽  
Ashley Muddiman
Keyword(s):  
Field Test ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Audience Engagement ◽  
Local Newspaper ◽  
Selection Decisions ◽  
Digital News ◽  
Selection Behavior ◽  
News Selection ◽  
News Headlines ◽  
Clear Information

This research investigates how digital news headlines influence contemporary news information seeking. In two studies (a lab experiment and a field test), we examine how the presentation of news information—traditional, summary news headlines or clickbait, curiosity news headlines—influences the attitudinal and behavioral components of news seeking. Study 1 models the news-seeking process, finding that summary headlines heighten perceptions of headline information adequacy, which increase expectations that an article will provide clear information, which in turn increase anticipated audience engagement with news compared to some curiosity headlines. Study 2 determines that individuals’ selection behavior on nine local newspaper websites also favors summary headlines. The findings encourage researchers to employ information-seeking mechanisms in understanding news selection decisions.

Journalism and Its Audience

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Wahl-Jorgensen ◽  
Allaina Kilby
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Television News ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Audience Engagement ◽  
News Production ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Digital News ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
Technological Developments

The relationship between journalism and its audience has undergone significant transformations from the earliest newspapers in the 18th century to 21st-century digital news. The role of the audience (and journalists’ conceptions of it) has been shaped by economic, social, and technological developments. Though the participation of the audience has always been important to news organizations, it has taken very different forms across times, genres, and platforms. Early newspapers drew on letters from their publics as vital sources of information and opinion, while radio established a more intimate relationship with its audience through its mode of address. Though television news genres may not have emphasized audience engagement, research on the medium was heavily invested in understanding how it affected its audience. The rise of the Internet as a platform for journalism has represented a significant turning point in several respects. First, it has challenged conventional hierarchies of news production and value by facilitating user-generated content and social media, enhancing opportunities for audience contributions. This presents new opportunities for engagement but also challenges journalists’ professional identities, compelling them to assert their authority and skill sets. Further, digital journalism has led to the rise of the quantified audience, leading to the increased role of metrics in driving the behavior of journalists. As the audience and its behavior are shifting, so are the practices of journalism. The two actors—journalists and audiences—remain interlocked in what may be a troubled marriage, but one which is structurally compelled to change and grow over time.

What prompts users to click on news headlines? Evidence from unobtrusive data analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingting Jiang ◽  
Qian Guo ◽  
Shunchang Chen ◽  
Jiaqi Yang
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Online News ◽  
Clickstream Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Text Length ◽  
News Selection ◽  
Log File ◽  
News Headlines

Purpose The headlines of online news are created carefully to influence audience news selection today. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between news headline presentation and users’ clicking behavior. Design/methodology/approach Two types of unobtrusive data were collected and analyzed jointly for this purpose. A two-month server log file containing 39,990,200 clickstream records was obtained from an institutional news site. A clickstream data analysis was conducted at the footprint and movement levels, which extracted 98,016 clicks received by 7,120 headlines ever displayed on the homepage. Meanwhile, the presentation of these headlines was characterized from seven dimensions, i.e. position, format, text length, use of numbers, use of punctuation marks, recency and popularity, based on the layout and content crawled from the homepage. Findings This study identified a series of presentation characteristics that prompted users to click on the headlines, including placing them in the central T-shaped zones, using images, increasing text length properly for greater clarity, using visually distinctive punctuation marks, and providing recency and popularity indicators. Originality/value The findings have valuable implications for news providers in attracting clicks to their headlines. Also, the successful application of nonreactive methods has significant implications for future user studies in both information science and journalism.

Valence-Based Biases in News Selection

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Stuart Soroka ◽  
Lauren Guggenheim ◽  
Dominic Valentino
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Level Variation ◽  
Positive Information ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Learning Biases ◽  
Selection Decisions ◽  
News Selection

Abstract. Recent work highlights individual-level variation in negativity biases in news selection. There has, however, been limited work exploring the source of this individual-level variation. This study considers predispositions in information processing as a source of difference in news selection. We explore individual differences in learning biases identified using Hot Rod, a new purpose-built online game. Asymmetries in respondents’ learning of negative and positive information in Hot Rod are correlated with news selection decisions. It thus appears that valence-based differences in news consumption are at least partly a function of the same biases that govern learning and information processing more broadly.

Does riparian disturbance alter stream amphibian antipredator behaviors?

2017 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.N. Liford ◽  
K.K. Cecala
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
Selection Decisions ◽  
Selection Behavior ◽  
Antipredator Behaviors ◽  
Riparian Habitats ◽  
Desmognathus Quadramaculatus

Ecological traps occur when a species makes maladaptive habitat-selection decisions. Human-modified environments including deforested riparian habitats can change how organisms respond to environmental cues. Stream amphibians alter their habitat selection in response to abiotic cues associated with riparian clearing, but little research exists to determine if behavioral shifts to abiotic cues may make them more susceptible to predation. To evaluate if deforested habitats create ecological traps, we studied habitat-selection behavior of larval Black-bellied Salamander (Desmognathus quadramaculatus (Holbrook, 1840)) when given conflicting environmental cues. We also evaluated the potential for learning or adaptation to cues in deforested reaches by evaluating individuals from forested and deforested reaches. We anticipated that individuals from deforested reaches would make adaptive antipredator choices when presented with well-lit habitat, whereas individuals from forested reaches would select shaded habitat closer to a predator. We found that habitat origin, light, and predator presence all interacted to influence habitat selection. Although individuals from forested habitats selected shaded environments, all observed individuals adaptively avoided a predator. Individuals from deforested reaches were more willing to enter well-lit habitat to avoid the predator. Despite documented declines of salamanders associated with forest removal, it appears that individuals are capable of making adaptive antipredator decisions in degraded habitats.

Toward a Person × Situation Model of Selective Exposure

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinhee Kim ◽  
Jung-Hyun Kim ◽  
Mihye Seo
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Situation Model ◽  
Selective Exposure ◽  
Online News ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
Selection Behavior ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
News Selection ◽  
Selection Of

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.

scholarly journals Picture Power? The Contribution of Visuals and Text to Partisan Selective Exposure

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 12-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Powell ◽  
Toni G. L. A. Van der Meer ◽  
Carlos Brenes Peralta
Keyword(s):  
Selective Exposure ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Selection Behavior ◽  
News Selection ◽  
Additional Influence ◽  
Source Cues ◽  
The U.S

Today’s high-choice media environment allows citizens to select news in line with their political preferences and avoid content counter to their priors. So far, however, selective exposure research has exclusively studied news selection based on textual cues, ignoring the recent proliferation of visual media. This study aimed to identify the contribution of visuals alongside text in selective exposure to pro-attitudinal, counter-attitudinal and balanced content. Using two experiments, we created a social media-style newsfeed with news items comprising matching and non-matching images and headlines about the contested issues of immigration and gun control in the U.S. By comparing selection behavior of participants with opposing prior attitudes on these topics, we pulled apart the contribution of images and headlines to selective exposure. Findings show that headlines play a far greater role in guiding selection, with the influence of images being minimal. The additional influence of partisan source cues is also considered.

Foraging extends beyond food: Hoarding of mental energy and information seeking in response to uncertainty

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Alquist ◽  
Roy F. Baumeister
Keyword(s):  
Information Seeking ◽  
Potential Outcomes ◽  
Food Hoarding

AbstractWhen an environment is uncertain, humans and other animals benefit from preparing for and attempting to predict potential outcomes. People respond to uncertainty both by conserving mental energy on tasks unrelated to the source of the uncertainty and by increasing their attentiveness to information related to the uncertainty. This mental hoarding and foraging allow people to prepare in uncertain situations.

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