ERIC Number: EJ1132523
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Feb
Pages: 32
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0002-8312
EISSN: N/A
Educating for Democracy in a Partisan Age: Confronting the Challenges of Motivated Reasoning and Misinformation
Kahne, Joseph; Bowyer, Benjamin
American Educational Research Journal, v54 n1 p3-34 Feb 2017
This article investigates youth judgments of the accuracy of truth claims tied to controversial public issues. In an experiment embedded within a nationally representative survey of youth ages 15 to 27 (N = 2,101), youth were asked to judge the accuracy of one of several simulated online posts. Consistent with research on motivated reasoning, youth assessments depended on (a) the alignment of the claim with one's prior policy position and to a lesser extent on (b) whether the post included an inaccurate statement. To consider ways educators might improve judgments of accuracy, we also investigated the influence of political knowledge and exposure to media literacy education. We found that political knowledge did not improve judgments of accuracy but that media literacy education did.
Descriptors: Democracy, Surveys, Adolescents, Young Adults, National Surveys, Accuracy, Simulation, Ethics, Civics, Information Technology, Media Literacy, Information Literacy, Motivation, Logical Thinking, Misconceptions, Influences, Social Media, Ideology, Persuasive Discourse, Political Issues, Beliefs, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A