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Do the psychological theories of cognitive dissonance and selective exposure have bearing on how students at Dartmouth engage with news? Are students less likely to consume politically charged materials that they disagree with? Results from a true randomized survey administered to all undergraduates at the College in the classes of 2017 and 2018 found that Democrats at Dartmouth are less likely to engage with news that contradicts their political beliefs at a statistically significant level. Republicans, however, were more likely to engage with politically disagreeable news, but not at a statistically significant level.

AbstractIn recent years, concerns about misinformation in the media have skyrocketed. President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that various news outlets are disseminating 'fake news' for political purposes. But when the information contained in mainstream media news reports provides no clear clues about its truth value or any indication of a partisan slant, do people rely on the congeniality of the news outlet to judge whether the information is true or false? In a survey experiment, we presented partisans (Democrats and Republicans) and ideologues (liberals and conservatives) with a news article excerpt that varied by source shown (CNN, Fox News, or no source) and content (true or false information), and measured their perceived accuracy of the information contained in the article. Our results suggest that the participants do not blindly judge the content of articles based on the news source, regardless of their own partisanship and ideology. Contrary to prevailing views on the polarization and politicization of news outlets, as well as on voters' growing propensity to engage in 'partisan motivated reasoning,' source cues are not as important as the information itself for partisans on both sides of the aisle.