Research based on the affective approach has established that political partisans' emotional responses to identity-threatening news content, particularly that of anxiety and anger,
will affect their subsequent information seeking (e.g., Marcus et al., 2000; Arpan & Nabi, 2011), although they did not agree upon the effect of anger. Some contend that anger will close
off information seeking (Valentino et al., 2008), and some argue that anger will motivate more information seeking (Arpan & Nabi, 2011). Based on the Hostile Media Effect and Lazarus'
(1991) cognitive appraisal theory of emotion, the current study examined the role bias-induced emotions (anger and anxiety) play in mediating partisan information seeking preferences, as well
as the roles that anger expression trait and issue novelty play in moderating partisans' emotional responses. The current study involved an experiment including a 2 (Novel v. Familiar issues)
X 3 (three different identity-threatening issues) design with a control condition (non-threatening) to explore the mediating role of anger and anxiety on subsequent information seeking
preferences (identity-bolstering information, identity-threatening information, and neutral information), as well as moderating effects of anger expression and issue novelty. A total of 243
participants completed this study. The results indicated three main findings. First, bias-induced anger, but not anxiety, motivated participants to want to read additional
identity-threatening information. Second, surprisingly, only the interaction of anger-in expression and exposure to identity-threatening news articles affected the subsequent
identity-threatening information seeking, which was contrary to the current study's proposition. The higher the anger-in expression trait, the stronger bias-induced anger's mediating effect.
Third, perceived issue novelty did elicit greater anger and anxiety, and it also moderated bias-induced anger's effects on identity-threatening information seeking: the more perceived issue
novelty, the stronger bias-induced anger's mediating effect. The findings have implications for the relationship between exposure to identity-threatening news and information seeking in a
democratic society. Limitations and suggestions for future research were discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Communication and Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2014. / July 14, 2014. / Anger, Anger Expression, Anxiety, Emotion, Information Seeking, News Bias / Includes bibliographical references. / Laura M. Arpan, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stephen McDowell, Committee Member; Arthur Raney, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_252836 |
| Contributors | Han, Yi-Hsing (Paul) (authoraut), Arpan, Laura M. (professor directing dissertation), Kelley, Colleen M. (university representative), McDowell, Stephen D., 1958- (committee member), Raney, Arthur A. (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Communication and Information (degree granting college), School of Communication (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (184 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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