Can you hear me now? Mitigating the echo chamber effect by source position indicators

We examined how a source position indicator showing both valences (pro/con) and magnitudes (moderate/extreme) of positions on controversial topics influenced users' selection and reception of diverse opinions in online discussions. Results showed that the indicator had differential impact on participants who had varied levels of accuracy motives - i.e., motivation to accurately learn about the topic, by leading to greater exposure to attitude-challenging information for participants with higher accuracy motives. Further analysis revealed that it was mainly caused by the fact that the presence of position indicator increased the selection of moderately inconsistent sources for participants with high accuracy motives but decreased the selection of them for participants with low accuracy motives. The indicator also helped participants differentiate between sources with moderate and extreme positions, and increased their tendency to agree with attitude-challenging information from sources with moderately inconsistent positions. Participants with high accuracy motives were also found to learn significantly more about the arguments put forward by the opposite side with the help of the position indicator. We discussed the implications of the results for the nature of the echo chamber effect, as well as for designing information systems that encourage seeking of diverse information and common ground seeking.