ABSTRACT

Research has demonstrated time and again that peoples’ self-reports of news exposure are heavily inflated and the reasons for this overreporting remain unclear. In three online survey experiments conducted in Israel, we manipulated the survey procedure to test cognitive and motivational explanations, and attempted to attenuate inflated reports of news exposure. While increasing or decreasing the anonymity of the survey (the ultimate test for social desirability) did not affect participants’ responses, a self-affirmation manipulation reduced reported exposure. A memory-aid manipulation also reduced reported television news exposure, suggesting that the cognitive mechanism possibly relates to memory failure.

摘要

研究一次又一次地表明，人们对新闻曝光的自我报告被严重夸大了，这种过度报告的原因仍不清楚。在以色列进行的三个在线调查实验中，我们操纵调查程序来测试认知和动机解释，并试图减少对新闻曝光的夸大报道。虽然增加或减少调查的匿名性（社会期望的最终测试）不会影响参与者的反应，但自我肯定操纵减少了报告的曝光率。记忆辅助操作也减少了报道的电视新闻曝光率，这表明认知机制可能与记忆力衰竭有关。