Previous literature has dealt with news consumption patterns on the web, but not many attempts have done to clarify individual differences by focusing on a role of personality variables. This study suggests that high need for cognition will lead digital news consumers to actively seek out news websites to get political information, whereas low need for cognition will lead them to passively encounter political news on social media. The results of the online survey indicate that need for cognition does not predict news consumption on the web, but only need to evaluate positively correlates to news website usage. Also, both variables positively correlate to active sharing and commenting on political information in social media, attention to political news, and political knowledge. -- Abstract.
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