Wondering About War: The Development of Interest Towards Conflict Through Sequential Knowledge Acquisition

Reminders of war are ubiquitous, capturing the living rooms, phone screens, and the interest of many. Although war media can be distressing, many consume it daily. Yet, we know little about how people’s initial interest in wars develops over time. Earlier studies found that interest in neutral topics rises as knowledge is gathered and then eventually declines. In two studies (N = 291), we examined whether interest in wars follows a similar pattern, hypothesizing that interest increases as knowledge accumulates, and then eventually drops. Participants could freely choose to read short Wikipedia-based texts about various wars. In addition, they reported their compassion toward those involved in each war. After each text, they rated their current interest in the conflict. Multilevel analyses supported our hypothesis, revealing both a positive linear and a negative quadratic effect of the amount of information read on interest, suggesting that interest grows with knowledge acquisition before tapering off. Additionally, compassion for those affected by a war positively predicted interest in that war. This study takes an initial step toward understanding how emotional responses might shape sustained engagement with war media.