Selective Exposure and Exemplification within Sports Highlights

Abstract

Selective exposure provides a useful lens for exploring how attention to competing information within exemplification theory (i.e., exemplars versus base-rate data) can impact viewing outcomes. Sports highlights reflect an ideal context for examining this selectivity, as exemplars are often presented concomitantly alongside base-rate measures of performance. To examine this selectivity, an experiment was conducted where viewers watched a series of exemplars (or sports highlights) presented alongside statistical measures of athlete performance while eye tracking gauged visual attention. Although viewers allocated greater overall attention to exemplars, domain-specific interest predicted increased attention to base-rate data, which in turn was associated with increased recall. This relationship was moderated by viewers’ actual, objective sport knowledge. © 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.