Disengaging from Reality - Online Behavior and Unpleasant Political News

Leonardo D'Amico and Guido Tabellini

No 9696, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Why, in the face of scandals and misbehaviors, partisan supporters don’t seem to change their minds about their favored candidates? We study individuals’ online engagement with negative news on candidates in the 2016 US Presidential Election. Compared to independents, partisan users avoid commenting bad news on their favorite candidate, but seek them on its opponent, a political “ostrich effect”. When they do comment on bad news about their candidate, they try to rationalize them, display a more negative sentiment, and are more likely to cite scandals of the opponent. This behaviour is consistent with the predictions of a model of online interactions where paying attention to non-consonant news is emotionally or psychologically costly, while paying attention to consonant ones is pleasing. Because users enjoy receiving positive feedback on their views, social media amplifies intrinsic biases that drive ideological segregation.

Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pay, nep-pol and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Working Paper: Disengaging from Reality: Online Behavior and Unpleasant Political News (2023)
Working Paper: Disengaging from Reality Online Behavior and Unpleasant Political News (2022)
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