SynthesisPsychological bulletin2009
Feeling validated versus being correct: a meta-analysis of selective exposure to information.
Synthesis in Psychological bulletin, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 125 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
125 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A meta-analysis of correction effects in science-relevant misinformation.Nature human behaviour · 2023Pooled it
- The effects of executive coaching on behaviors, attitudes, and personal characteristics: a meta-analysis of randomized control trial studies.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Probiotics for Preventing Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Preterm Infants: A Network Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- A discrete emotion with discrete effects: effects of anger on depth of information processing.Cognitive processing · 2020Pooled it
- Screen media use and ADHD-related behaviors: Four decades of research.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018Pooled it
- Debunking: A Meta-Analysis of the Psychological Efficacy of Messages Countering Misinformation.Psychological science · 2017Pooled it
- How Confidence in Prior Attitudes, Social Tag Popularity, and Source Credibility Shape Confirmation Bias Toward Antidepressants and Psychotherapy in a Representative German Sample: Randomized Controlled Web-Based Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2019Trial
- A meta-intervention to increase completion of an HIV-prevention intervention: Results from a randomized controlled trial in the state of Florida.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2016Trial
- Confirmation bias in web-based search: a randomized online study on the effects of expert information and social tags on information search and evaluation.Journal of medical Internet research · 2014Trial
- Choice and placebo expectation effects in the context of pain analgesia.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2012Trial
- Prior preferences interfere with the associative learning of food values.Communications psychology · 2026Article
- How to Increase Children's and Adults' Interest in Learning From Disagreement.Developmental science · 2026Article
- Investigating the impact of narrativity on the congeniality bias.Memory & cognition · 2026Article
- Political breakups: Interpersonal consequences of polarization.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
- TechnologicalNature. Mental health · 2026Article
- The Effect of Coherence on Instruction Following from News Outlets.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Preferred Sources of Health-Risk Information About Cigarettes, e-Cigarettes, and Waterpipes Among Adolescents in Germany: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of a Large School-Based Survey.Tobacco use insights · 2026Article
- Understanding Partisan Bias in Judgments of Misinformation: Identity Protection Versus Differential Knowledge.Psychological science · 2026Article
- The paradox of AI content labeling: how clarity influences information avoidance via cognitive dissonance on social platforms.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Who Reads Criticism Matters: How Selective Exposure Affects Public Backlash to Foreign Shaming.Public opinion quarterly · 2026Article
65 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
A meta-analysis assessed whether exposure to information is guided by defense or accuracy motives. The studies examined information preferences in relation to attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in situations that provided choices between congenial information, which supported participants' pre-existing attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors, and uncongenial information, which challenged these tendencies. Analyses indicated a moderate preference for congenial over uncongenial information (d=0.36). As predicted, this congeniality bias was moderated by variables that affect the strength of participants' defense motivation and accuracy motivation. In support of the importance of defense motivation, the congeniality bias was weaker when participants' attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors were supported prior to information selection; when participants' attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors were not relevant to their values or not held with conviction; when the available information was low in quality; when participants' closed-mindedness was low; and when their confidence in the attitude, belief, or behavior was high. In support of the importance of accuracy motivation, an uncongeniality bias emerged when uncongenial information was relevant to accomplishing a current goal.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.