Effects Of Prior Brief And Need For Cognition On Myside Bias In Microblog

Microblog has been widely used in China since it was launched by Sina company in 2009.And has quickly grown into one of the most popular social networks in China.The main function of Microblog is information dissemination,and shows strong influence in all kinds of news coverage of events,it has become an important carrier of news and current affairs.And also provides an open platform for people to express their views and to interact with other Internet users.However,up to now,scholars haven’t reached an agreement on whether social networks will make people’s views tend to be more diversified or tend to be more extreme.To cultivate students’ critical thinking is one of the main purposes of higher education,avoiding myside bias,regarding issues on multiple perspective and treating different views equally are premise of critical thinking.As a stage of social public opinions,Microblog can provide a rich environment for cultivating students’ critical thinking.Based on previous relevant theories and empirical researches,we aimed to explore effects of prior belief and need for cognition on myside bias in Microblog.To achieve this goal,we conducted three studies:Study 1 examined effects of prior belief on myside bias,results showed that strength of prior belief had a main effect on myside bias,myside bias of strong belief and moderate belief are significantly higher than that of weak.Study 2 developed a suitable scale for measuring need for cognition in Microblog based on the existing need for cognition scale,and proved to be of good reliability and validity.Study 3 examined effects of prior belief and need for cognition on myside bias in Microblog,results showed that both prior standpoint and strength of prior belief had main effects on myside bias,myside bias of students who had an agree position were significantly greater than that of students who had an opposite position;Myside bias of strong prior belief was significantly higher than myside bias of weak or moderate prior belief.Interaction effect of prior belief and need for cognition on myside bias was not significant.Finally,limitations of present research and implications for future were discussed.