Can we blame social media for polarization? Counter-evidence against filter bubble claims during the COVID-19 pandemic

Can we blame social media for polarization? Counter-evidence against filter bubble claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. S Mo Jones-Jang, Myojung Chung. New Media & Society, June 13, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221099591

Abstract: Although collective efforts are essential to fight COVID-19, public opinion in the United States is sharply divided by partisan attitudes and health beliefs. Addressing the concern that media use facilitates polarization, this study investigated whether social and traditional media use for COVID-19 information attenuates or reinforces existing disparities. This article focuses on two important areas where the public is highly polarized: partisan affect and vaccine attitudes. Contradicting the filter bubble claim, our survey (n = 1106) revealed that social media use made people less polarized in both partisan affect and vaccine hesitancy. In contrast, traditional media use made people more polarized in partisan affect. These findings corroborate the growing evidence that social media provide diverse viewpoints and incidental learning.

Keywords: Affective partisan polarization, COVID-19, polarization, social media, vaccine hesitancy

Negative affect decreases the weight that participants place on the health benefits and on the taste of food

Negative Affect, Affect Regulation, and Food Choice: A Value-Based Decision-Making Analysis. Daniel O’Leary et al. Social Psychological and Personality Science, June 13, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221079947

Abstract: Maladaptive eating is one of the greatest threats to health and well-being in the 21st century. Psychological factors that drive maladaptive eating are of interest as they may offer low-cost intervention targets. One such factor is negative affect. If negative affect does lead to maladaptive eating, interventions that reduce negative affect should lead to improved eating and food choice. One relevant class of techniques is affect regulation strategies. In the present research, we use survey data and a value-based decision-making task to demonstrate that negative affect is associated with maladaptive eating and food choice. We find that negative affect decreases the weight that participants place on the health benefits of food. We also show that teaching participants to use reappraisal to downregulate negative affect leads to healthier food choices. These findings indicate that reappraisal applied to incidental negative affect may be an effective method for improving eating and food choice.

Keywords: food, eating, affect, affect regulation, self-control, decision-making, value