POL SCI 164A Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Diegesis, Confirmation Bias, Soft Media
30 Apr 2018
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Department
Course
Professor
PS 164A Lecture 4/24 Media Influence
Why limited
● Schema-based biases
● Denial disconfirmation bias
● Selective exposure
● Low source credibility
BUT...
1. Small percent persuaded can have big consequences
2. No or weak priors in circumstances
a. Political primaries
b. Foreign policy crises
i. Massive shifts in opinion on foreign policy matters in short amounts of
time
3. Media is a conduit for communications and even if it is not credible, media sources can
be
Rallying around foreign policy issues - Heatherington
● Public had already surged in american patriotism, so politicians followed or the public
would have been very upset with him
● Sdsdasda
One message with priors
● Probability of believing a message is curved
● Middle level information believes the new message the most
One message with weak or no resistance (no prior message is consistent with prior)
● As long as you’re exposed, you’ll buy into it
Document Summary
But: small percent persuaded can have big consequences, no or weak priors in circumstances, political primaries, foreign policy crises, massive shifts in opinion on foreign policy matters in short amounts of time. Media is a conduit for communications and even if it is not credible, media sources can be. Public had already surged in american patriotism, so politicians followed or the public would have been very upset with him. Probability of believing a message is curved. Middle level information believes the new message the most. One message with weak or no resistance (no prior message is consistent with prior) As long as you"re exposed, you"ll buy into it. Media is a conduit - they report who favors what. People can just follow a source that they have an affinity for. Allows citizens to make simple judgments without knowing anything. Media used to be very substantive and now it is very horse-race oriented.
