Response with a Vengeance: Exploring the Influence of the Hostile Media Effect on Intergroup Polarization

According to the hostile media effect (HME), individuals perceive balanced mass media coverage as unfairly biased toward opposing sides. This HME may affect intergroup polarization, interpreted here as momentarily enhanced ingroup bias. In two online studies situated in the context of the abortion debate, pro-life vs. pro-choice group members read a counterfeit balanced newspaper article. Among participants showing a HME, we observed a congruent pattern of correlations between the HME and self-reported polarization or enhanced intergroup bias after exposure. We interpret these findings as providing initial evidence that the HME triggers short-term intergroup polarization as a “response with a vengeance.”