Chapter 3 (Buder, Buttliere, & Cress, 2017) focuses on how individual factors impact the way that people use their informational environments. In particular, it suggests that the use of informational environments is driven by cognitive conflicts, which can manifest as knowledge discrepancies (cognitive perspective) or attitudinal discrepancies (motivational-affective perspective). Research on cognitive conflict is discussed from the viewpoint of two academic disciplines, learning sciences and social psychology. In addition, Chap. 3 reports on a set of studies that investigate how cognitive conflicts play out in social media settings where people are afforded an opportunity to act on their environment (social-interactive perspective).

When people navigate through their informational environments, they often come across information that is discrepant from their knowledge or their attitudes, and consequently experience cognitive conflict. This chapter reviews findings and theories about cognitive conflicts from the learning sciences and from social psychology. While cognitive conflicts in the learning sciences (especially in the Piagetian and Vygotskyan tradition) are positively connoted as fundamental for learning, results in social psychology frequently suggest that people shy away from cognitive conflicts (e.g., by selectively preferring congenial information). Drawing from research about social media, this chapter provides evidence that people do not exhibit conflict avoidance, but actually seek out cognitive conflicts when contributing to wikis or responding to discussion posts. Apparently, providing an opportunity to change one´s environment is a strong driver to engage in cognitive conflict. The chapter concludes by suggesting how the conflicting evidence from the learning sciences and from social psychology might be reconciled.