Ego and cognitive biases in perceptions of media influence

Who you think you are shapes what you think of the media. In the framework of media psychology, that means the “self” seems to bridge the gap between ego and media. As the conscious manifestation of a self-centered worldview, self actively selects media outlets, processes media content, and forms perceptions of how media influence others. Understanding this phenomenon requires us to define terms and relationships between these two interlocking concepts of ego and self, as well as various egocentric tendencies related to the fundamental cognitive bias. These range from egocentrism, to optimistic bias, naive realism, self-serving bias, to attribution bias. Moreover, these cognitive biases are present in third-person and hostile media perceptions. State-of-the-art research examines how biased perceptions of media exert ingroup and outgroup influences; and empirical evidence of traditional media and new media illuminates types of ingroup protective actions.