Cognitively Biased Users Interacting with Algorithmically Biased Results in Whole-Session Search on Debated Topics

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Wang, Ben, Liu, Jiqun
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Wang, Ben
Liu, Jiqun
author_facet Wang, Ben
Liu, Jiqun
contents When interacting with information retrieval (IR) systems, users, affected by confirmation biases, tend to select search results that confirm their existing beliefs on socially significant contentious issues. To understand the judgments and attitude changes of users searching online, our study examined how cognitively biased users interact with algorithmically biased search engine result pages (SERPs). We designed three-query search sessions on debated topics under various bias conditions. We recruited 1,321 crowdsourcing participants and explored their attitude changes, search interactions, and the effects of confirmation bias. Three key findings emerged: 1) most attitude changes occur in the initial query of a search session; 2) Confirmation bias and result presentation on SERPs affect the number and depth of clicks in the current query and perceived familiarity with clicked results in subsequent queries; 3) The bias position also affects attitude changes of users with lower perceived openness to conflicting opinions. Our study goes beyond traditional simulation-based evaluation settings and simulated rational users, sheds light on the mixed effects of human biases and algorithmic biases in information retrieval tasks on debated topics, and can inform the design of bias-aware user models, human-centered bias mitigation techniques, and socially responsible intelligent IR systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_17286
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Cognitively Biased Users Interacting with Algorithmically Biased Results in Whole-Session Search on Debated Topics
Wang, Ben
Liu, Jiqun
Information Retrieval
Human-Computer Interaction
When interacting with information retrieval (IR) systems, users, affected by confirmation biases, tend to select search results that confirm their existing beliefs on socially significant contentious issues. To understand the judgments and attitude changes of users searching online, our study examined how cognitively biased users interact with algorithmically biased search engine result pages (SERPs). We designed three-query search sessions on debated topics under various bias conditions. We recruited 1,321 crowdsourcing participants and explored their attitude changes, search interactions, and the effects of confirmation bias. Three key findings emerged: 1) most attitude changes occur in the initial query of a search session; 2) Confirmation bias and result presentation on SERPs affect the number and depth of clicks in the current query and perceived familiarity with clicked results in subsequent queries; 3) The bias position also affects attitude changes of users with lower perceived openness to conflicting opinions. Our study goes beyond traditional simulation-based evaluation settings and simulated rational users, sheds light on the mixed effects of human biases and algorithmic biases in information retrieval tasks on debated topics, and can inform the design of bias-aware user models, human-centered bias mitigation techniques, and socially responsible intelligent IR systems.
title Cognitively Biased Users Interacting with Algorithmically Biased Results in Whole-Session Search on Debated Topics
topic Information Retrieval
Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.17286