Abstract

Framed media in today’s increasingly digital age continues to influence individuals’ opinion formation, policy making, and political attitudes. This independent study aims to examine the effects of framed media, media literacy, and motivated reasoning on an individual’s opinion formation regarding US tariff policy. Existing literature regarding motivated reasoning suggest that individuals are more willing to accept information that is congruent with their pre exiting beliefs and reject information that is not. Furthermore, media literacy is a tool that individuals may possess at varying levels which can contribute to limiting the effects of framed media on an individual’s opinion formation. Through this literature that I consulted; I developed three separate hypotheses to test during this study. My main hypothesis was that exposure to framed misinformation on social media will significantly influence individual evaluations of tariff policy. Followed by misinformation congruent with an individual's partisan identity will have a stronger effect on tariff opinions and lastly that individuals with lower media literacy will be more susceptible to misinformation’s influence on tariff opinions. I was able to test these hypotheses by employing an experimental research design that involved surveying students at The College of Wooster using three separate surveys. A convenience sampling method was used as participants were exposed to either positively framed, negatively framed, or neutrally framed media depending on the survey that they were presented with. The findings revealed that framed media does not have a significant effect on someone's policy opinion formation and that political ideology is a stronger predictor of someone’s opinion regarding US tariff policy.

Advisor

Kim, Sekwen

Department

Political Science

Disciplines

American Politics | International Relations | Other Social and Behavioral Sciences

Publication Date

2026

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2026 Owen Bosland