Mass communication scholars have amassed knowledge of what drives people to approach, and increasingly, to avoid news. A new direction in this research argues that evolutionary processes explain all human behavior at the most fundamental level. This research incorporates news consumption and general information-seeking theories as part of evolutionary psychology. In doing so, it explains seeking and avoiding responses to important but anxiety-provoking stories in the news. The study describes an online survey conducted in February 2021 that measures intention to seek and avoid a subsequent news story after a first story is read (N=516). The findings clarify how three variables influence avoidance: 1) chronic anxiety, 2) the immediate anxiety response to the news story, and 3) news-search efficacy. The study finds news-search efficacy consistently predicts news seeking while chronic anxiety consistently predicts intention to avoid a subsequent story. Additionally, there is a moderating effect for chronic anxiety. For people with a high level of chronic anxiety, a stressful story decreases their likelihood of avoiding subsequent stories on the topic. The role of story anxiety does not consistently predict either seeking or avoiding. Demographics and news habits were used as control variables, and the research found subsequent story avoiding was higher among conservative than liberal news users. The remaining control variables had small and inconsistent effects. The dissertation explicates how this study and previous studies by the author imply a news-seeking and avoiding model that rests on the foundations of evolutionary psychology. Finally, it argues that news consumption and avoidance studies cannot ignore the important role of preexisting predispositions like chronic anxiety. Theoretical and application implications of the research are discussed.
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