What process describes how consumers perceive desired messages while ignoring conflicting viewpoints?

The process that describes how consumers perceive desired messages while ignoring conflicting viewpoints is confirmation bias. This psychological tendency leads individuals to favor information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs or opinions. When consumers encounter messages that align with their views, they are more likely to engage with, remember, and accept those messages while dismissing or overlooking any information that contradicts their beliefs.

Understanding confirmation bias is essential in marketing because it influences how consumers process promotional content. Marketers can leverage this by crafting messages that resonate with their target audience's existing attitudes and beliefs, thereby increasing the likelihood of favorable engagement.

The other terms refer to different concepts: self-actualization relates to personal fulfillment and achievement, selective attention pertains to how people focus on specific stimuli while ignoring others, and information overload occurs when an individual is overwhelmed by too much information, which can impair decision-making. While these concepts are relevant to consumer behavior, they do not specifically describe the tendency to prioritize supportive information over conflicting viewpoints as confirmation bias does.