In the polarizing political climate of 2018, social media companies are increasingly coming under fire for their part in creating echo chambers. While it’s no secret these platforms’ algorithms are designed to show us content we’ll find agreeable, users may still bump into posts and videos that challenge their views. But do these disagreeable posts stand any chance of changing opinions? Are they even looked at, or quickly glimpsed at and tossed aside?

To explore willingness to engage with disagreeable content, we conducted a political study of nearly 1,400 individuals from a demographically diverse, online panel . Each survey respondent was shown three liberal, three conservative, and two non-political videos, for a total of eight. Respondents were instructed to watch as much or little of each video as they wanted to; they could immediately skip past one that didn’t interest them, or stick around and watch the entirety of it if they wished. They had full freedom and flexibility, much like when scrolling through a newsfeed on social media .

For a little bit of context, here's a short clip from a liberal, non-political, and conservative video a participant may have seen.