title: Dealing with dissonance: responding to an incongruent test result in a new media environment.
abstract: In a new media environment replete with opportunities to test and express political identity, this study examines how people respond when confronted with a political test result that contradicts their partisan affiliation. An incongruent test result should produce motivated processing, but only when individuals do not dismiss the incongruent result will they experience dissonance and alter their social identification. Using a series of experiments, the results of this study supported these hypotheses. Implications of these findings for political psychology and message response are discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia 20052, USA. ekvraga@gmail.com
authors.forename: Emily K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Vraga
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003073:Cognitive Dissonance; D003146:Communications Media; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D009042:Motivation; D011057:Politics; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012933:Social Identification; D060756:Social Networking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires