Illinois study shows that we hear what we want to hear
My sister calls it “man ears”
As in, “He’s not listening. He’s got his man ears on.”
It’s a slightly feminist take on the idea of selective hearing, or rather how we hear what we want to hear. Or rather how good information gets retained.
Now, a study out of the University of Illinois supports that idea.
Published recently in the Psychological Bulletin, the study shows that people tend to seek out information that supports their own point of view rather than considering an opposing idea.
“If you are really committed to your own attitude - for example, if you are a very committed Democrat - you are more likely to seek congenial information, that is, information that corresponds with your views,” said University of Illinois Professor Dolores Albarracin. “If the issues concern moral values or politics, about 70 percent of the time you will choose congenial information, versus about 60 percent of the time if the issues are not related to values.”
The researchers found that people are more likely to expose themselves to opposing ideas only when it is useful to them.
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Kim McGuire joined the Post-Dispatch in August 2007. She has covered the environment for almost 10 years while working at The Denver Post and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. In 2004, McGuire was named a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder. 
This is not new and has been part of the study of Communication Theory for decades. It is easier to flock to ideas that are more in line with what you already believe and your are more likely to tune out things that don’t fall in line with your ideas or beliefs.