A New Look at Selective-Exposure Effects: An Integrative Model

When individuals make decisions, they tend to prefer information that is consistent with their choices over information that is inconsistent with their choices. This phenomenon is known as selective exposure to confirmatory information, and it has been shown to detrimentally affect the quality of decision outcomes. In this article, we review the most important recent findings on the determinants of this phenomenon, highlight its potential real-life consequences for decision makers and their judgments, and propose a theoretical model that is able to integrate a variety of inconsistent findings in selective exposure research.