2016 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 143-161
In our society, exposure to conflicting information concerning public issues is the norm rather than the exception. Despite this, to date there has been no comprehensive assessment of studies examining the effects of exposure to conflicting information on attitude formation and change. Therefore, the present article reviewed empirical studies across three relevant research areas: social network heterogeneity, competitive framing, and attitude polarization. Synthesis of these findings suggest that exposure to conflicting information weakens the strength of preexisting attitudes, encourages the formation of moderate attitudes, enhances the impact of a frame (a stronger frame, an antecedent frame, or a subsequent frame) on attitude formation, or leads to perceived attitude polarization. As a unified explanation of these effects, a model is presented. This model posits that a certain aspect of conflicting information communicated, including a conflict of claims, arguments, and frames, is highlighted by moderating factors (e.g., the presence or absence of social network as an information source, the accessibility of preexisting attitudes), thereby bringing about different exposure effects. Finally, some directions for future research are proposed.
