Cognitive Dissonance in Agenda Resistance: Why Audiences Reject Media Narratives in Polarized Systems

Melek (2023) found agenda-setting only affects pro-government individuals in Türkiye, while Guo et al. (2023) showed liberals paradoxically shift conservative after exposure to right-wing media. These contradictions suggest agenda resistance—a phenomenon unexplored in literature. Drawing on cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957), this study tests whether identity-protective cognition drives audiences to reject counter-attitudinal agendas. Eye-tracking (Lobodenko et al., 2023) and neuroimaging could measure attention to disagreeable content. Unlike Darkwa et al.'s (2023) focus on media erosion, this centers on psychological refusal of agendas, extending Mackuen’s (1987) information-processing approach. Theoretically, it reframes agenda-setting as a battle between media salience and audience motivated reasoning.

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