Expressive responding

Expressive responding is the expression of opinions in a survey that opposes or exaggerates actual beliefs in such a way as to provide psychological comfort for the responder. Expressive responding can be found in groups across the political spectrum. ^[1]

There is evidence that expressive responding is done more for internal psychological gain than as a response to true belief in misinformation. ^[2]

Expressive responding is more common in those who respond to questions about rumours. ^[3]

References

1. Garrett, R. Kelly; Bond, Robert M.; Nisbet, Erik C. "Self-Reported Exposure and Beliefs About Misinformation Across a U.S. Presidential Election Cycle: Expressive Responding and Motivated Reasoning". Political Communication. 0 (0): 1–17. doi:10.1080/10584609.2025.2532584. ISSN   1058-4609.
2. Schaffner, Brian F; Luks, Samantha (2018). "Misinformation or Expressive Responding?". Public Opinion Quarterly. 82 (1): 135–147. doi:10.1093/poq/nfx042. ISSN   0033-362X. Archived from the original on 2025-05-05.
3. H., Graham, Matthew; A., Huber, Gregory (2022-01-27). "The Expressive Value of Answering Survey Questions". OUP Academic. doi:10.1093/o. Archived from the original on 2024-09-14.

See also

• Motivated reasoning