Table 5.
Confirmation and disconfirmation biases in online debates II. The effect of stimuli on attitude change: proportion of respondents with reinforced (stable and polarized) and modified opinions.
| Reinforced |
Modified |
N (100%) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stable | Polarized | Sum | Modified | Changing sides | Sum | |||
| ‘Extreme’ | Confirmed | 47.5 | 5.4 | 52.9 | 38.8 | 8.4 | 47.2 | 560 |
| Contradicted | 47.0 | 5.9 | 52.9 | 36.8 | 10.3 | 47.1 | 526 | |
| Mixed | 42.4 | 3.4 | 45.8 | 43.6 | 10.6 | 54.2 | 559 | |
| ‘Moderate’ | Confirmed | 25.5 | 28.0 | 53.5 | 31.7 | 14.8 | 46.5 | 1,072 |
| Contradicted | 23.8 | 27.5 | 51.3 | 28.7 | 20.1 | 48.8 | 1,082 | |
| Mixed | 23.0 | 23.8 | 46.8 | 35.8 | 17.3 | 53.1 | 1,189 | |
| ‘Center’ | More | 33.2 | 66.8 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | 223 | |
| Less | 34.3 | 65.7 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | 248 | ||
| Mixed | 37.3 | 62.7 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | 217 | ||
‘Extreme’ = 0, 1, 9, and 10. ‘Moderate’ = 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8.