Selective Processes, Exposure, Perception, Memory

Selective processes are the means by which individuals' preexisting beliefs shape their use of information in a complex environment. Current interests and opinions influence the acquisition (selective exposure), evaluation (selective perception), and retention (selective memory) of political information. As a consequence, individuals tend to be more knowledgeable about personally salient topics than about topics that do not interest them, and they tend to know more of the evidence supporting their political opinions than they know about other perspectives. These characteristics limit individuals' ability to revise their political beliefs in response to new evidence and promote political polarization because existing opinions receive systematic reinforcement. Though these processes have rich roots in political communication, there is also significant research on the processes in nonpolitical contexts.

Selective processing is related to motivated reasoning, the idea that individuals' cognitive processes are goal-oriented and are often biased in favor of their political predispositions. Motivated reasoning concerns the mechanisms by which individuals construct justifications for their positions, specifically how they recall and interpret information, whereas selective processes concern the mechanisms that shape individuals' awareness of the political information that they use to form such justifications. Selective processing and motivated reasoning overlap with regard to the evaluation of opinion-relevant information. Individuals' tendency to be more critical of information that challenges their political opinions is cited as an example of both concepts.

Two key factors motivate selective processing. The first is the complexity of the information environment. People do not have the time or the cognitive ability to consider every argument, so they must be selective, choosing a subset of information that adequately, though incompletely, addresses the information need at hand. The second is that individuals experience a negative emotional response, referred to as cognitive dissonance, to information that conflicts with their existing opinions. Individuals seek to minimize dissonance by seeking out opinion reinforcement and finding fault with opinion-challenging information.