How Experience of Online Group Polarization Relates to University Students’ Value-Related Judgments and Choices: The Parallel Mediating Roles of Cognitive Dissonance and Emotional Contagion

The psychological processes linking polarization experiences across different online interaction contexts to university students’ value-related judgments and choices warrant further investigation. This study distinguishes experienced polarization within online communities (EPC) from experienced polarization in open online discussions (EPD) and examines their associations with university students’ value-related judgments and choices, including parallel indirect associations through cognitive dissonance response (CDR) and emotional contagion response (ECR). Data from 2105 valid cross-sectional self-report questionnaires collected at a university in China were randomly divided into two subsamples: 770 cases for exploratory factor analysis and 1335 cases for confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Indirect effects were estimated using 5000 bootstrap resamples. After adjustment for seven covariates covering demographics, internet use, and online participation, both forms of polarization experience were significantly and positively associated with CDR and ECR. Both psychological responses were also significantly and positively associated with value judgment difficulty (VJD) and value choice susceptibility (VCS). All four direct paths from the two forms of polarization experience to VJD and VCS were significant. Standardized estimates for the eight specific indirect effects ranged from 0.032 to 0.198, and all 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals excluded zero. Together, the predictors in the respective regression equations explained 44.4% of the variance in VJD and 54.5% in VCS. These findings provide statistical support for the hypothesized mediation relationships, indicating a pattern in which direct and indirect associations coexist. By distinguishing polarization experiences in specific interaction contexts, the study jointly connects cognitive and emotional responses to judgment formation and the reference points informing choices. It thereby provides empirical evidence for understanding how university students respond to online opinions and forms the basis for their evaluations and choices.