Cognitive bias in students' social media use

Abstract

Cognitive bias refers to the tendency to evaluate information based on personal experiences and emotions rather than logical thinking. Cognitive bias is likely to occur when people are exposed to fast and emotionally charged information on social media. This study focuses on four common types of cognitive bias on social media: Bandwagon bias, status bias, framing bias, and negativity bias. A questionnaire survey was conducted from December 2024 to January 2025 on 446 students (41.3% male, 58.7% female; Mage = 19.40) who frequently use social media, using self-assessment and vignette scales. The results showed that students were affected by all four types of bias, with framing bias and bandwagon bias being the most frequent, followed by negativity bias and status bias. Students preferred to receive positive, urgent (framing bias), and widespread (bandwagon bias) information over negative (negativity bias) or information shared by people with social status (status bias). These findings indicate that information reception on social media is not objective but influenced by cognitive bias. Therefore, media literacy programs are necessary to raise awareness and enhance students' critical thinking skills when processing information on social media.