Opinionated users often seek information that aligns with their preexisting beliefs while dismissing contradictory evidence due to confirmation bias. This conduct hinders their ability to consider alternative stances when searching the web. Despite this, few studies have analyzed how the diversification of search results on disputed topics influences the search behavior of highly opinionated users. To this end, we present a preregistered user study (n = 257) investigating whether different levels (low and high) of bias metrics and search results presentation (with or without AI-predicted stances labels) can affect the stance diversity consumption and search behavior of opinionated users on three debated topics (i.e., atheism, intellectual property rights, and school uniforms). Our results show that exposing participants to (counter-attitudinally) biased search results increases their consumption of attitude-opposing content, but we also found that bias was associated with a trend toward overall fewer interactions within the search page. We also found that 19% of users interacted with queries and search pages but did not select any search results. When we removed these participants in a post-hoc analysis, we found that stance labels increased the diversity of stances consumed by users, particularly when the search results were biased. Our findings highlight the need for future research to explore distinct search scenario settings to gain insight into opinionated users' behavior.

翻译：持有强烈观点的用户往往倾向于寻找与自身先有信念一致的信息，同时因确认偏见而忽视相悖的证据。这种行为阻碍了他们在网络搜索中考虑其他立场的可能性。尽管如此，少有研究分析争议话题的搜索结果多样性如何影响高度观点化用户的搜索行为。为此，我们开展了一项预先注册的用户研究（n=257），探究偏见指标的不同水平（低与高）以及搜索结果呈现方式（是否包含AI预测立场标签）如何影响用户在三个争议话题（无神论、知识产权、校服）上的立场多样性消费与搜索行为。结果表明，向参与者展示（与态度相悖的）偏颇搜索结果会增加他们对对立立场的消费，但我们也发现偏见与搜索页面整体交互减少的趋势相关。此外，19%的用户与查询和搜索页面产生交互却未选择任何搜索结果。在剔除这些参与者的后续分析中，我们发现立场标签增加了用户消费立场的多样性，尤其当搜索结果存在偏见时。我们的发现突显了未来需探索不同搜索场景设置以深入理解观点化用户行为的必要性。