To form truthful beliefs, individuals must expose themselves to varied viewpoints. And yet, people routinely avoid information that contradicts their prior beliefs—a tendency termed “selective exposure.” Why? Prior research theorizes that that exposure to opposing views triggers negative emotions; in turn, people avoid doing so. Here, we argue that understanding why individuals find simple exposure to opposing perspectives aversive is an important and largely unanswered psychological question. We review three streams of research that offer relevant theories: self-threat borne of cognitive dissonance; naïve realism (i.e., the illusion of personal objectivity); and reluctance to expend cognitive effort. While extant empirical research offers the strongest evidence for predictions from naïve realism, more systematic research is needed to reconcile these perspectives.

为了形成真实的信念，个人必须将自己暴露于不同的观点。然而，人们通常会避免与他们先前的信念相矛盾的信息——这种趋势被称为“选择性暴露”。为什么？先前的研究认为，暴露于相反的观点会引发负面情绪。反过来，人们避免这样做。在这里，我们认为，理解为什么个人会觉得简单地暴露于相反的观点会令人厌恶，这是一个重要且很大程度上未得到解答的心理问题。我们回顾了三个提供相关理论的研究流派：认知失调带来的自我威胁；天真的现实主义（即个人客观性的幻觉）；并且不愿意花费认知努力。虽然现存的实证研究为幼稚现实主义的预测提供了最有力的证据，