Selective communication: what is it and how does this bias affect us?

People have different opinions and beliefs, nothing new. Our political ideology can make us see with better or worse eyes the way in which a newscast or a social network account informs us.

If a media outlet gives us news that contradicts our belief system, it is quite likely that Let's change the medium or relativize what we are told in it, that is, we select the type of exhibition we want receive.

But not only do we select the information we want to receive, we also select the information we want to say, even if we have little certainty that it is true. This phenomenon has been called selective communication and it has recently been approached experimentally. Let's take a closer look at it.

• Related article: "The 28 types of communication and their characteristics"

What is selective communication?

Selective communication is a cognitive bias that consists of people being less likely to share certain information that contradicts our beliefs and attitudes, especially those that have to do with our ideology or political militancy, even if we believe that the information contrary to our opinion or belief is true. That is, we are more likely to communicate data that are not very objective but that coincide with how we think rather than share truthful information but that is contrary to our opinion.

This phenomenon has begun to be approached experimentally relatively recently, and among those who have studied it we have the researchers Pierce Ekstrom and Calvin K. The I. Both authors indicate that, for a long time, the focus of attention has been on how our political opinions and our political affiliation with a political group causes a bias in the way we treat the information.

It was already known that people are very selective when they receive information, whether they read, listen or see it and, consequently, believe it. This specific phenomenon is called selective exposure and consists of the tendency of people to expose themselves to information, opinions or ideologically related media or that They offer a way of delivering news and data that is enjoyable, as long as they do not imply a clash between the way you see the world and the way new is presented to you. information.

Selective exposure and selective communication would be two sides of the same coin. While selective exposure implies that the person selects the information that he wants to receive, thus reinforcing his points of view pre-existing and avoiding those who contradict your opinion, selective communication implies saying what is in tune with your way of seeing things. In one phenomenon the message we receive is selected and in the other the one we emit.

Selective communication is a very interesting phenomenon because it shows how people are biased not only when it comes to receiving information, but also when we transmit it to others. Even being people who perceive reality very clearly, without any cognitive bias (which is practically impossible) when we communicate "facts" we cannot avoid falling into presenting imprecise or distorted versions of reality.

Relationship of this phenomenon with politics

Pierce Ekstrom and Calvin K. Lai have conducted four studies with a total sample of 2,293, participants who felt identified as liberal and others as conservative. The experiment consisted of presenting them with the positive and negative effects of two new political measures: the increase in the minimum wage and the ban on assault weapons.

After having read a positive effect and a negative effect associated with each of the two policies, they were asked to If the participants really believed that there was a relationship between these two policies and the effects they had indicated. In addition to that, they were asked if they believed it was more or less likely that they themselves would communicate these findings or relationships to a loved one, friend or family member.

As expected there was differences between liberal and conservative participants. Liberals were more likely to believe in the positive effects of raising the minimum wage and banning assault weapons, while conservatives were more likely to believe in the negative effects of both measures.

According to the researchers and in line with the data found by their own research, when the ideology, militancy or opinion Politics is at stake, it is difficult to persuade people to believe political facts that are uncomfortable for them, however true and objective they may be. be. If a person is presented with a piece of information that is inconsistent or contrary to his ideology, identity or aptitudes, it does not matter if it is an objective fact, the person will not want to believe it or be sensitive to it.

But in addition to this, the researchers found that the participants were more likely to focus and communicate information that supported his political ideology, even if that data was not at all reliable. In fact, this selective communication of information favorable to their political point of view occurred regardless of whether the participants believed that the facts they conveyed were accurate or not. In other words, they might well think what they were saying was dubious and still communicate it to other people.

What this effect goes to show is that even if we successfully persuade someone that their point of view is unfounded or "Incorrect", this is not a guarantee that the person will not continue to communicate to their closest environment "facts" that continue to give strength to their way of thinking particular. Namely, we can give you true data and that person will continue to transmit the false ones.

• You may be interested in: "What is Political Psychology?"

Selective Exposure and Communication and Fake News

With the irruption of the Internet and social networks, the transmission of false news or "Fake News" has become a reality and a current issue. While the more traditional media, such as newspapers, television or radio, are not free from political ideology, the Internet It has served as a platform for anyone without any journalism studies to share their opinions and ideology to millions of people.

Based on the theory of selective exposure, people tend to look for means that are related to our way of thinking. think, being the Internet that place where it is quite likely that we will find one that is very close to how we think. This should not surprise us since the Internet is so huge that we can practically find any blog, YouTube channel, Twitter page or online newspaper of any of the political ideologies that we can To imagine.

This fact has its good points and its bad points. The main advantage is that we can find a world much more diverse in opinions and facts than those offered by television channels or long-circulation newspapers., allowing us to know events that very rarely will appear in a television newscast or on the front page of a newspaper. However, it has a very large disadvantage, directly related to selective exposure and selective communication bias.

Although it is true that many people prefer to follow profiles of different ideologies on social networks and so on. have a broader perspective, the reality is that many people choose to follow only accounts related to their way of think. These same accounts fall into the bias of selective communication, only transmitting the information that best suits them. In turn, their followers only share their content and the followers of those followers see that information and, thus, an endless chain of shares can be started.

In an ideal world, regardless of its ideology, all communication media would transmit truthful, honest and real information, something that is nothing more than a utopia. If the classic media can already share unreliable news, let's not talk about the accounts on social networks and other large platforms that are controlled by people more motivated by their own political ideology than by their desire to report. It is not difficult to imagine that in these accounts a hoax can be shared very easily, a false news that, despite being a lie, the followers of that account like.

Thus, both selective exposure and selective communication are two highly implicated biases in the transmission of Fake News, especially on social networks. The Internet has helped people to expose themselves to only the media that are closely related to their way of thinking and, in turn, these people only share information with which they agree, regardless of whether they believe it to be true or not, which contributes to a false information being widely transmitted throughout the population.

Fortunately, understanding that human beings are victims of bias can help us avoid this type of news. Instead of following only one media outlet or media with the same ideological profile, it is advisable to follow people with different opinions. This will not prevent us from wanting to believe one or another news of doubtful reliability but, at least, it will allow us have a broader perspective of what is happening in this world and, consequently, a more informed and objective.

Bibliographic references:

• Ekstrom, P. D., & Lai, C. K. (2020). The Selective Communication of Political Information. Social Psychological and Personality Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620942365
• Moya, M. (1999): Persuasion and change of attitudes. In J.F. Morales and C. Huici (Coords.): Social Psychology, 153-170. Madrid: McGraw-Hill.
• McGuire, W. J. (1985): Attitudes and attitude change. In G. Lindzey and E. Aronson (Eds.): The handbook of social psychology, vol. 2. New York: Random House.
• Rivero, G (2016). Internet news consumption, echo chambers? Spain: Politikon. https://politikon.es/2016/02/26/el-consumo-de-noticias-por-internet-camaras-de-eco/