全球智库信息集成服务系统(G2TT): DP15774 Biases in Information Selection and Processing: Survey Evidence from the Pandemic

G2TT

来源类型	Discussion paper
规范类型	论文
来源ID	DP15774
	DP15774 Biases in Information Selection and Processing: Survey Evidence from the Pandemic
	Ester Faia; Vincenzo Pezone; Basit Zafar
发表日期	2021-02-07
出版年	2021
语种	英语
摘要	How people form beliefs is crucial for understanding decision-making under uncertainty. This is particularly true in a situation such as a pandemic, where beliefs will affect behaviors that impact public health as well as the aggregate economy. We conduct two survey experiments to shed light on potential biases in belief formation, focusing in particular on the tone of information people choose to consume and how they incorporate this information into their beliefs. In the first experiment, people express their preferences over pandemic-related articles with optimistic and pessimistic headlines, and are then randomly shown one of the articles. We find that respondents with more pessimistic prior beliefs about the pandemic are substantially more likely to prefer pessimistic articles, which we interpret as evidence of confirmation bias. In line with this, respondents assigned to the less preferred article rate it as less reliable and informative (relative to those who prefer it); they also discount information from the article when it is less preferred. We further find that these motivated beliefs end up impacting incentivized behavior. In a second experiment, we study how partisan views interact with information selection and processing. We find strong evidence of source dependence: revealing the news source further distorts information acquisition and processing, eliminating the role of prior beliefs in article choice.
主题	Financial Economics ; Macroeconomics and Growth
关键词	Belief updating Confirmatory biases Endogenous informa- tion acquisition Media polarization Source dependence Covid-19
URL	https://cepr.org/publications/dp15774
来源智库	Centre for Economic Policy Research (United Kingdom)
资源类型	智库出版物
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/544776
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Ester Faia,Vincenzo Pezone,Basit Zafar. DP15774 Biases in Information Selection and Processing: Survey Evidence from the Pandemic. 2021.