When emotion meets cognition: A PINE–STOPS model of incidental problem-solving information exposure on social media

With the rise of algorithm-driven social media platforms, an increasing number of individuals are gaining information incidentally. This study investigates how emotional and cognitive factors influence individuals' engagement with problem-solving information they encounter incidentally on social media. Using an integrated theoretical framework based on the Political Incidental News Exposure (PINE) model and the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS), a survey experiment was conducted with 665 participants. The findings revealed that the surprise derived from the incidental exposure could positively relate to curiosity, which positively associates with intentional engagement (second-level IE) while negatively relates to incidental scanning (first-level IE). This research demonstrates that epistemic emotions, such as curiosity, play a crucial role as a mediating mechanism in incidental information processing. The study further establishes that this emotion-relevant engagement is not uniform but is moderated by pre-existing cognitive appraisals. Specifically, the relationship between curiosity and engagement is strengthened by a high constraint recognition, an individual's perception of limited ability to act, and is weakened by high involvement recognition (personal relevance) and referent criterion (existing knowledge frameworks). This suggests that curiosity is most effective as a driver of engagement when individuals feel a gap in either their agency or knowledge. Interestingly, these moderating effects were found to be significant for the topic of adult cyberbullying but not for the more identity-bound issue of organ donation, indicating that the model's applicability is contingent on the characteristics of the problem. Ultimately, this study confirms that incidental exposure on social media can serve as a "gateway mechanism" for public activation. It highlights how emotional and cognitive factors interact in sequence to shape engagement and a willingness to seek and share information, providing valuable theoretical insights for the emotion-cognition interface and practical guidance for strategic communicators operating in today's algorithmic media environment.