New Media Challenges Lecture 7: Information processing and credibility

Flashcards covering information processing and credibility in the age of the internet, based on lecture notes.

Trained attention hypothesis (Courage et al., 2015)

Frequent media multitasking positively affects cognitive control via training and improvement of control processes, promoting mental flexibility until late adolescence.

Media-Multitasking and Age

Higher levels of media-multitasking are associated with better multitasking performance (lower costs) only for individuals aged 7 to 29 due to neural plasticity in brain development.

Effects of In-Class Multitasking

In-class multitasking leads to lower academic performance with texting reducing test scores by 10-30% and laptop multitasking resulting in poorer note-taking, comprehension, and recall.

Consequences of Laptop Multitasking for Others

Laptop multitasking can hinder class learning for both users and nearby peers, causing distractions and lower scores for those in direct view of a multitasking peer.

Focus of Lecture 7

Individuals assess the credibility of information.

Challenges for Credibility Evaluations (Metzger & Flanagin, 2013)

The amount of information is infinite, online information may be less filtered, it may lack authority indicators, there are few quality control standards, content types are conflated, there is a context deficit leading to source confusion, and there are many targets for credibility evaluation.

Disintermediation

The removal of traditional intermediaries in online information, requiring individuals to evaluate credibility on their own.

Ethos

Character of the speaker.

Pathos

Emotional appeal.

Logos

Logical reasoning.

Credibility

Traditionally defined as the believability of information, based on the trustworthiness and expertise of the information source.

Cognitive Heuristics

Information processing strategies that ignore information to make decisions more quickly and with less effort, reducing cognitive load.

Reputation Heuristic

When having to believe between sources, people are more likely to believe the familiar source over an unfamiliar one.

Endorsement Heuristic

When having to believe sources, people are more likely to believe a source that is also trusted by others.

Consistency Heuristic

Check to what extent information is consistent over various sources.

Self-Confirmation Heuristic

People perceive information as credible when it is in line with pre-existing beliefs.

Expectancy Violation Heuristic

People are more likely to judge a website as not credible when it asks for unexpected information or has a sloppy layout.

Persuasive Intent Heuristic

Information that seems to have a persuasive or commercial motive is often viewed with scepticism.

System 1

Fast, automatic, intuitive cognitive system.

System 2

Slower, deliberate, analytical cognitive system.

Limited Capacity Model (Lang, 2000)

People have a limited capacity for the cognitive processing of information which they use for decoding, storage, and retrieval.

Heuristic-Systematic Model (Chaiken, 1980)

Systematic processing involves deeply considering a wider range of cues, while heuristic processing relies on a faster examination of credibility.

Prominence-Interpretation Theory (Fogg, 2003)

Iterative process of noticing a cue (prominence) and making a judgment about a cue (interpretation) until satisfied or constrained.

Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981)

Central vs Peripheral route of processing, based on motivation and ability.

Key Assumptions of Dual Processing Model (Metzger & Flanagin, 2015)

People do not evaluate all online information equally, different credibility cues trigger different levels of processing, and online environments introduce unique challenges.