Abstract

Communication researchers routinely assume that information seeking is a strategic, goaldirected process; however, several domains of theory and research suggest that potentially consequential information may be acquired nonstrategically. Dual-process theories and research concerned with automaticity and the role conceptual short-term memory (CSTM) plays in visual information processing are used to illustrate both the ubiquity of nonstrategic information acquisition and its potential consequences on judgments and behavior. Theoretical and methodological implications of nonstrategic information acquisition for the study of information seeking are discussed.

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