Myth: Conservatives are ignorant, mind numbed robots who only listen to Rush Limbaugh and watch Fox News.
Reality: Conservatives are more likely to read articles with opposing views.
People with stronger party affiliation, conservative political views, and greater interest in politics proved more likely to click on articles with opposing views, according to the Ohio State study. “It appears that people with these characteristics are more confident in their views and so they’re more inclined to at least take a quick look at the counterarguments,” Knobloch-Westerwick noted.
I wouldn’t read too much into this study. The fact conservatives are willing to read “opposing views” is probably due to the fact they’re inundated with liberal viewpoints. Mainstream news sources like the New York Times, NBC, Time, Newsweek, and the Washington Post are left leaning. It’s difficult to live in a bubble when NBC is working for the DNC.
As far as liberals are concerned, if you “feel” like you’re right about something what’s the point in researching it?
“Davis offered another possible explanation for this trend among blog readers. Conservative views dominate talk radio, and so conservatives may feel more satisfied by that outlet and are willing to check out opposing views on blogs.”
Just got back from a 12 hour road trip and I can tell you that the radio is no place for a liberal.
Since this was a study among students I doubt that it’s because of talk radio. Talk radio is listened to a very different demographic (mainly, working class white males).
I knew I recognized the authors name. I just finished a research manuscript on the topic of cognitive dissonance and cited some of her work. So I decided to pull up the original article and check it out.
It appears that the news article you read wasn’t completely accurate. Here is what the author said after the quote used above and in the news article.
“This could also provide a tentative explanation for conservative media users’ frequent counterattitudinal choices — conservatives are said to be generally more resistant and opposed to change in the first place (e.g., Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003). Hence, even if they click on a counterattitudinal message, they may not do so to look for opinion-swaying insights.”
I had to laugh when I read this because of the statement at the end of your post. You cited this study to make fun of liberals when the study actually suggests conservatives look at opposing sides without being open to the other side. So whats worse? Not researching opposing views or researching the opposition with a closed mind.
And whats up with those crazy words I have to spell to submit my comment? I have to put my glasses on just to read them!
The crazy words keep me from sorting through spam comments. As I stated before I don’t put much weigh into these studies for various different reasons.
There was a study in the news a few weeks about about conservative vs. liberal intelligence. The paper argued that liberal were more intelligent, but the definition of “conservative” was a bit of a mess.
As far as “fearing change” our very own Club Soda used to be a liberal. I guess since liberals don’t fear change they’re more prone to become conservatives? I have NOTHING to back that up. haha
Club Soda is a traitor! J/K of course. Maybe by the time Obama’s done I will fear change?
I knew why the words are there. The combinations just make me laugh. Like this one: haunted yearold. Sounds creepy.
Just thought I would write something that wasn’t an argument.
[...] Research suggests that conservatives are more likely to read “opposing views” than their liberal counterparts. Perhaps this is the reason liberals have such a difficult time understanding the arguments of conservatives. It’s just much easier to call conservatives names. The left’s angle on the tea party movement is very clear. Brand the entire group as mindless racists. Last week when Congressman Emanuel Cleaver claimed he was spit on and called names there was no evidence to support the claim. Even though there were thousands of people around and his staff was holding up phones to record everything that was going on (a point I’ve seen no one in the press make). What does it say about a political ideology and its supporters when instead of defending ObamaCare they’d rather call their opponents racists? [...]