News Selectivity and Beyond: Motivated Reasoning in a Changing Media Environment

Abstract

Since at least the 1950s, scholars have noted that partisans both select and process information in a biased manner. The latter has often been examined under the con- ceptual umbrella of “motivated reasoning.” In the last few years there has been a resurgence of interest in the topic, due in part to discussions of the issue in the pop- ular press. In this essay, we review the existing motivated reasoning research. We focus our work on the proposed mechanisms behind motivated reasoning and the implications that the phenomenon carries on public attitudes. In addition, we outline the importance of the phenomenon in light of our changing media environment. We discuss how the new media environment has changed the way people consume media information and speculate on how this will affect motivated reasoning research mov- ing forward. Finally, we discuss motivated reasoning in the context of a shifting par- adigm for media effects models, a paradigm that places greater emphasis on the role of audiences in determining communication impacts. We hope that scientists, com- munication specialists, science writers, political elites, and scholars will benefit from this work by obtaining insight into the theory of motivated reasoning and how it infiltrates their own fields.