How incidental and intentional news exposure in social media relate to political knowledge and voting intentions

Background

Citizens are expected to make informed voting decisions. Theoretical approaches suggest that people are most likely to acquire their political knowledge through media. As more people turn to social media as a source of news, the political knowledge gains from using these technologies are called into question. Previous research has shown that rather than increasing objective political knowledge, the use of social media for news only increases people's metacognitive sense of being knowledgeable (subjective knowledge), which in turn increases their political participation. However, it remains to be understood which particular forms of social media use, e.g., incidental or intentional news exposure, are related to which dimension of political knowledge. The present work examines (a) the extent to which different motivational forms of social media news consumption foster subjective knowledge, and (b) whether this metacognition is related not only to political participation as a broad concept, but also to specific democratic outcomes such as voting intentions.

Methods and results

Results from a pre-registered, pre-election survey (N = 1,223) of social media users show that intentional news seeking, but not incidental news exposure on social media, is directly related to increased subjective knowledge. Subjective knowledge appears to explain the relationship between social media news use and voting.

Discussion

By showing that incidental and intentional social media news use affect subjective knowledge differently, this study provides preliminary and nuanced insights into the ultimate role that social media technologies can play in democratic processes.

Assessing the potential conditioning effects of mis and disinformation self-efficacy on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge

Prior work on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge has yielded mixed findings. One recent meta-analysis on the topic concluded that the literature, when assessed as a whole, fails to indicate a direct and statistically identifiable between relationship general social media use and political knowledge. Considering these findings, the present work sought to assess the extent to which general social media use might be conditionally related to political knowledge. To do so, we explored the moderating effect of information-related self-efficacy beliefs. Specifically, building upon general self-efficacy theory and the idea that there exists considerable concern over the extent to which information on social media is factually incorrect, misleading, or biased, we predicted that mis and disinformation self-efficacy (MDSE) beliefs would positively condition the relationship between general social media usage and political knowledge. Contrary to our expectations, the results of three studies indicated that the combination of MDSE and frequent social media use was negatively related to political knowledge.

Non-News Websites Expose People to More Political Content Than News Websites: Evidence from Browsing Data in Three Countries

Most scholars focus on the prevalence and democratic effects of (partisan) news exposure. This focus misses large parts of online activities of a majority of politically disinterested citizens. Although political content also appears outside of news outlets and may profoundly shape public opinion, its prevalence and effects are under-studied at scale. This project combines three-wave panel survey data from three countries (total N = 7,266) with online behavioral data from the same participants (over 106M visits). We create a multi-lingual classifier to identify political content both in news and outside (e.g. in shopping or entertainment sites). We find that news consumption is infrequent: just 3.4% of participants' online browsing comprised visits to news sites. Only between 14% (NL) and 36% (US) of these visits were to news about politics. The overwhelming majority of participants' visits were to non-news sites. Although only 1.6\% of those visits related to politics, in absolute terms, citizens encounter politics more frequently outside of news than within news. Out of every 10 visits to political content, 3.4 come from news and 6.6 from non-news sites. Furthermore, exposure to political content outside news domains had the same - and in some cases stronger - associations with key democratic attitudes and behaviors as news exposure. These findings offer a comprehensive analysis of the online political (not solely news) ecosystem and demonstrate the importance of assessing the prevalence and effects of political content in non-news sources.

When the sun goes down: low political knowledge and high national narcissism predict climate change conspiracy beliefs

The present research empirically examines the links between political knowledge, national narcissism, and climate change conspiracy beliefs. National narcissism (i.e., an unrealistic belief about in-group's greatness which is maladaptive both from the perspective of intra- and inter-group processes) was previously linked to conspiracy beliefs. In this research, we hypothesized that low theoretical political knowledge would boost national narcissism and further lead to adopting climate change conspiracy theories.

METHODS

This hypothesis was tested in a two-wave study conducted among Polish participants (N = 558).

RESULTS

We found negative effect of political knowledge on climate change conspiracy beliefs. Moreover, national narcissism mediated between theoretical political knowledge and conspiracy beliefs.

CONCLUSION

People having low political knowledge are prone to believe in climate change conspiracy theories. Moreover, those less informed about the way political system works in their country are more narcissistically identified with their nation and, thus, deny the climate change.

Misinformedness about the European Union and the Preference to Vote to Leave or Remain

European politicians have become increasingly concerned about the possible distorting effects of citizens not only being uninformed, but systematically misinformed about the European Union (EU). Against this background, this study assesses the role of EU knowledge in shaping the preference to vote to leave or remain in a (hypothetical) referendum on EU membership using cross-national survey data that were collected simultaneously in eight EU countries during the run-up to the 2019 EP elections. The surveys included a newly designed item battery of EU knowledge capturing both the accuracy as well as confidence in knowledge of the respondents. The results show that misinformedness is associated with a preference to leave the EU, the uninformed citizens tend to be undecided or not intending to vote, while the well-informed prefer to remain. Overall, our findings contribute to the ongoing debates about the role of misinformation in politics.

Children's Literature as a Vehicle for Political Socialization: An Examination of Best-Selling Picture Books 2012-2017

Despite the importance of political engagement, the topic has been the subject of little empirical research in developmental psychology, particularly with preadolescent samples. As a commonly available and developmentally appropriate source of media messages, picture books may inform young children about politics and influence their political engagement and aspirations. This study presents a content analysis of all books included on The New York Times best sellers list for children's picture books from 2012 to 2017. Books were reviewed for depictions of political issues, political processes, political leaders, symbols associated with politics or political leadership, and government employees. Nearly half of the books in the sample included at least one instance of politically relevant content. Relatively few books included depictions of political issues or processes. More books contained depictions of political leaders. Democratic leaders represented were predominantly historical figures, and were largely men and White. Relative to democratic leaders, monarchical leaders were more likely to be girls or women and to be children and were less likely to engage in political processes or decisions. The findings suggest that although many picture books contain some politically relevant content, picture books represent a missed opportunity for many aspects of political socialization.

Cross-National Gender Gaps in Political Knowledge: How Much Is Due to Context?

Although the majority of studies on political knowledge document lingering gender-based differences in advanced industrial democracies, most contributors have drawn such conclusions from a single or a handful of countries, using limited batteries of political information items. Exploiting a pooled data set of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems encompassing 106 post-election surveys in forty-seven countries between 1996 and 2011, this article demonstrates that survey instrument-related factors, such as question format and content, as well as the overall difficulty of questions, are more consequential in shaping the size of gender gaps in political knowledge than institutional factors, such as electoral rules or opportunity structures. The research design of this article draws from almost three hundred different items measuring factual political knowledge using the broadest country coverage and most comprehensive approach to measurement to date.

How Internal Political Efficacy Translates Political Knowledge Into Political Participation: Evidence From Germany

This study presents evidence for the mediation effect of political knowledge through political self-efficacy (i.e. internal political efficacy) in the prediction of political participation. It employs an action theoretic approach-by and large grounded on the Theory of Planned Behaviour-and uses data from the German Longitudinal Election Study to examine whether political knowledge has distinct direct effects on voting, conventional, and/or unconventional political participation. It argues that political knowledge raises internal political efficacy and thereby indirectly increases the chance that a citizen will participate in politics. The results of mediated multiple regression analyses yield evidence that political knowledge indeed translates into internal political efficacy, thus it affects political participation of various kinds indirectly. However, internal political efficacy and intentions to participate politically yield simultaneous direct effects only on conventional political participation. Sequentially mediated effects appear for voting and conventional political participation, with political knowledge being mediated by internal political efficacy and subsequently also by behavioural intentions. The mediation patterns for unconventional political participation are less clear though. The discussion accounts for restrictions of this study and points to questions for answer by future research.

Changes in political astuteness following nurse legislative day

Political astuteness, including awareness, knowledge, and involvement, is necessary if nurses are to engage in policy advocacy-a vital aspect of the nursing profession. However, little is known about the effects of learning activities, such as legislative days, on political astuteness. The purpose of this research was to determine if political astuteness changed after participants attended a state nurse legislative day. Pre and post data were collected from participants in two studies (N = 80 and N = 34) using the Political Astuteness Inventory (PAI). Political astuteness scores were significantly higher after participants attended legislative day as compared to before. Age and educational rank were positively correlated with political astuteness. Experiential activities such as attending nurse legislative days that offer opportunities to learn policy advocacy skills can enhance knowledge of and participation in the policy process.