This article outlines the Political Incidental News Exposure Model. The Political Incidental News Exposure Model understands incidental news exposure as a dynamic process and distinguishes two levels of incidental news exposure: the passive scanning of incidentally encountered political information (first level) and the intentional processing of incidentally encountered content appraised as relevant (second level). After encountering political information incidentally, recipients briefly check the content for relevance (i.e., first level). If content is appraised as relevant, recipients switch to more intensive processing (i.e., second level incidental news exposure). Importantly, second-level incidental news exposure is assumed to have stronger effects on political outcome variables like participation and knowledge than first-level incidental news exposure. The Political Incidental News Exposure Model further acknowledges intention-based (i.e., incidental news exposure while not looking for political news) and topic-based incidental news exposure (i.e., incidental news exposure while looking for other political news) and it conceptualizes incidental news exposure with respect to political and non-political content. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.

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Advertising frequently promotes environmentally detrimental consumption choices such as air travel. To date, the effects of these ads on individuals' moral evaluation of unsustainable behaviors are still little understood. This study with a quota-based sample in Germany (N = 199) explored whether individuals morally disengage from the harmfulness of flying due to ad exposure. Based on the theory of moral disengagement (Bandura, 2016, Moral disengagement: How people do harm and live with themselves. Worth Publishers), we investigated whether individuals neglect negative consequences, seek moral justification or displace responsibility for flying behaviors after seeing flight advertising. The results suggested that individuals low in climate change concern become more neglectful of the consequences of flying, while climate change concerned individuals exhibited the opposite reaction. Irrespective of individuals' level of climate change concern, ad exposure increased recipients' displacement of responsibility to other actors. Moreover, we found a correlation between mechanisms of moral disengagement and flying intentions as well as support for aviation policies.

Numbers can convey critical information about political issues, yet statistics are sometimes cited incorrectly by political actors. Drawing on real-world examples of numerical misinformation, the current study provides a first test of the anchoring bias in the context of news consumption. Anchoring describes how evidently wrong and even irrelevant numbers might change people’s judgments. Results of a survey experiment with a sample of N = 413 citizens indicate that even when individuals see a retraction and distrust the presented misinformation, they stay biased toward the initially seen inaccurate number.

For many individuals, the media function as a primary source of information about preventative measures to combat COVID-19. However, a considerable number of citizens believe that the media coverage about pandemics is exaggerated. Although the perception of media exaggeration may be highly consequential for individual health behaviors, we lack research on the drivers and consequences of this perception. In a two-wave panel study, we examined associations between trust in science, perceptions of media exaggeration about COVID-19, and social distancing behavior during the lockdown in Austria (NT2 = 416). Results showed that trust in science at T1 led to less perceptions of media exaggeration about COVID-19 at T2. Furthermore, consistent with the theory of psychological reactance, perceptions of media exaggeration about COVID-19 at T1 caused less social distancing behavior at T2. Thus, findings suggest that trust in science may positively affect individuals' social distancing behavior by decreasing perceived media exaggeration about COVID-19 over time. Implications for research on media effects in times of COVID-19 and conclusions for journalists are discussed.

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This panel study in Austria in 2020 ( NW1 = 912, NW2 = 511) explores distinct audience segments regarding beliefs in misinformation, conspiracy, and evidence statements on COVID-19. I find that citizens fall into seven segments, three of which endorse unsupported claims: The threat skeptics selectively accept misinformation and evidence; the approvers tend to accept all types of information; and the misinformed believe in misinformation and conspiracy statements while rejecting evidence. Further analyses suggest that the misinformed increasingly sought out COVID-19 threat-negating information from scientific sources, while also overall attending to threat-confirming information. These patterns have practical implications for correcting misperceptions.

Political parties increasingly rely on sophisticated targeting strategies to persuade potential voters. However, questions have been raised about the effectiveness of targeted political ads, considering that citizens frequently oppose the use of their data for political purposes. In this study, we investigate three avoidance behaviors that citizens might employ in order to circumvent targeted political ads: cognitive avoidance, blocking behaviors, and privacy-protective behaviors. We test if privacy concerns, perceived personalization, and overload explain why individuals resort to avoidance behaviors. Moreover, we explore interrelations between the different avoidance strategies. Findings from a two-wave panel study ( N = 428) in the context of the Viennese state election showed that privacy concerns increased cognitive avoidance and privacy-protective behaviors. In contrast, perceived personalization decreased cognitive avoidance and blocking behaviors. Cognitive avoidance further reduced privacy-protective behaviors over time, indicating that low-effort strategies might inhibit preventive actions against data collection practices.