High-choice environments make it easier for individuals to access content congruent with their most salient identities. Especially for minority audiences with a strong desire for self-affirmation and self-esteem, they generally gravitate toward media messages promoting positive in-group images.
My dissertation proposes and tests a theory of ethnic selective exposure – namely, ethnic audiences’ use of English- and ethnic-language media as a function of their most salient or strongest cultural identity among the many available to them (American, ethnic American, pan ethnic, or national origin). This identity-based media selectivity is examined with experimental data from a 2016 survey experiment and observational data from the 2006 Latino National Survey.
Results consistently showed that ethnic audiences preferred to use media that are congruent with their most salient or strongest cultural identity, especially when they sought out information related to politics and public affairs.
