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.

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

Expressive responding is more common in those who respond to questions about rumours.

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.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

See also