Spaced Out in Cyberspace? Evaluations of Computer‐Based Information¹

Abstract

This study draws on cognitive elaboration theory to examine when and why people evaluate computer-based information more favorably than information from a less automated source. Half of participants received information from a computer, while half received the identical information from a less automated source. Moreover, participants were induced to be more vs. less involved in the informationacquisition process. As predicted, participants in the low-involvement condition evaluated the information more favorably when it came from a computer than from a less automated source. This difference was eliminated in the high-involvement condition. Further supporting our reasoning, the interaction effect between information source and level of involvement was more pronounced for participants low, rather than high, in need for cognition.Computers are becoming perhaps the most important source of information all over the world. People spend hours each day in front of their computer screens, acquiring information generated by programs or made possible through their connection to the Internet. Given the pervasiveness of people's acquisition of computer-based information, it is both theoretically and practically important to determine whether people's evaluations of computer-based information differ from their evaluations of information acquired from other sources (e.g., people, printed media). A question of central importance, for example, is whether people are predisposed more positively toward (i.e., assign greater credibility to) computer-based information. The more credibility they assign to computer-based information, the more likely such information is to influence their attitudes and behaviors. 1 The authors thank Michael Morris, Batia Wiesenfeld, and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

Design methodology of analytical games for knowledge acquisition

“…Moreover, cognitive science has shown the relationship between cognitive engagement, motivation to think and information processing behaviours (e.g., [86]). Specifically, it has been demonstrated that engagement enhances the individual motivation to elaborate information (e.g., [87]). The decision-making and the underpinning information processing are at the core of the studies conducted through analytical games.…”