Impact of perceived influence on confirmation bias in social media messages: the moderating effect of civic online reasoning

ABSTRACT

Social media provides individuals with tremendous opportunities to follow nearly unlimited influencers online, prompting scholars’ concern about confirmation bias and the need to address it. Based on data from 894 participants, this study explores the positive effect of perceived influence on confirmation bias in social media contexts and the negative moderating effect of civic online reasoning on this relationship. These findings indicate that efforts in public media literacy education for citizens must be enhanced to transform subconscious defense mechanisms into mature coping skills through critical thinking.

KEYWORDS:

• Confirmation bias
• perceived influence of influencers
• civic online reasoning
• defense mechanisms
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Social Science Foundation of China [grant number CIA200273], and Zhejiang Province Social Science Planning Project.

Notes on contributors

Da Wang

Da Wang is a postdoc fellow in the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University of China. His research interests include media literacy, international communication and cultural studies.

Yuxiang Hong

Yuxiang Hong is an Associate Professor in the School of Management at Hangzhou Dianzi University. His research interests include cyberpsychology, risk communication, and behavioral information security.