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Disengaging from Reality - Online Behavior and Unpleasant Political News

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  • Leonardo D'Amico
  • Guido Tabellini

Abstract

Why, in the face of scandals and misbehaviors, partisan supporters don’t seem to change their minds about their favored candidates? We study individuals’ online engagement with negative news on candidates in the 2016 US Presidential Election. Compared to independents, partisan users avoid commenting bad news on their favorite candidate, but seek them on its opponent, a political “ostrich effect”. When they do comment on bad news about their candidate, they try to rationalize them, display a more negative sentiment, and are more likely to cite scandals of the opponent. This behaviour is consistent with the predictions of a model of online interactions where paying attention to non-consonant news is emotionally or psychologically costly, while paying attention to consonant ones is pleasing. Because users enjoy receiving positive feedback on their views, social media amplifies intrinsic biases that drive ideological segregation.

Suggested Citation

  • Leonardo D'Amico & Guido Tabellini, 2022. "Disengaging from Reality - Online Behavior and Unpleasant Political News," CESifo Working Paper Series 9696, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9696
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Daron Acemoglu & Asuman Ozdaglar & James Siderius, 2024. "A Model of Online Misinformation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(6), pages 3117-3150.
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    3. Eleonora Freddi, 2021. "Do People Avoid Morally Relevant Information? Evidence from the Refugee Crisis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(4), pages 605-620, October.
    4. Edward L. Glaeser & Bryce A. Ward, 2006. "Myths and Realities of American Political Geography," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 119-144, Spring.
    5. Benjamin Golub & Matthew O. Jackson, 2012. "How Homophily Affects the Speed of Learning and Best-Response Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1287-1338.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marco Manacorda & Guido Tabellini & Andrea Tesei, 2022. "Mobile internet and the rise of political tribalism in Europe," CEP Discussion Papers dp1877, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Guy Aridor & Rafael Jiménez-Durán & Ro'ee Levy & Lena Song, 2024. "The Economics of Social Media," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1422-1474, December.
    3. Marco Manacorda & Guido Tabellini & Andrea Tesei, 2022. "Mobile Internet and the Rise of Communitarian Politics," CESifo Working Paper Series 9955, CESifo.
    4. Jean-Michel Benkert & Ludmila Matyskova & Egor Starkov, 2024. "Strategic Attribute Learning," Papers 2412.10024, arXiv.org.

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