Audi Alteram Partem: An Experiment on Selective Exposure to Information

Giovanni Montanari and Salvatore Nunnari

No 10699, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We report the results of an experiment on selective exposure to information. A decision maker interested in learning about an uncertain state of the world can acquire information from one of two sources which have opposite biases: when informed on the state, they report it truthfully; when uninformed, they report their favorite state. A Bayesian decision maker is better off seeking confirmatory information unless the source biased against the prior is sufficiently more reliable. In line with the theory, subjects are more likely to seek confirmatory information when sources are symmetrically reliable. On the other hand, when sources are asymmetrically reliable, subjects are more likely to consult the more reliable source even when prior beliefs are strongly unbalanced and this source is less informative. Our experiment suggests that base rate neglect and simple heuristics (e.g., listen to the most reliable source) are important drivers of the endogenous acquisition of information.

Keywords: information acquisition; biased information sources; selective exposure; echo chambers; confirmation bias; base rate neglect; laboratory experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D81 D83 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-exp
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Related works:
Working Paper: Audi Alteram Partem: An Experiment on Selective Exposure to Information (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10699

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