Information Consumption Preference Triggered by Moralized Short Video Cover Attributes: A Dynamic Decision-making Process

Abstract

Morality has a profound impact on individual behavior and decision-making processes. Online platforms have become a primary source for exposure to and engagement with moral content. And short videos have become the main medium for accessing and disseminating online information, especially among young adults who constitute the largest user group and main target audience. Investigating young people’s consumption decisions about moral content can help understand the dissemination of moral content in mainstream media. This study attempts to develop a moralized short video cover database and employs a hierarchical drift diffusion model to investigate the dynamic decision-making process involved in information consumption. Study 1 constructed the database comprising 39 moral and 49 immoral covers characterized by moral attributes, emotion categories, valence, arousal, and dominance. Study 2 adopted a single-factor within-subjects design with a sample of 87 college student users (33 males, Mage = 20.98, SD = 2.257). The results show that users prefer moral information over immoral information and exhibit a processing advantage for moral information. This advantage is reflected in a greater drift rate and shorter non-decision time. Additionally, the drift rate under moral condition is positively related to moral identity, moral value, and belief in a just world, and negatively related to moral disengagement and callous-unemotional traits, suggesting that moral traits may accelerate the processing of moral information. These findings support and expand the view of positive-negative asymmetry, and provide a scientific basis for understanding the characteristics and mechanisms of moral content consumption on short video platforms.