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Breaking (Fake) News: No Personal Relevance Effect on Misinformation Vulnerability.
Francesco Ceccarini1, Pasquale Capuozzo2, Ilaria Colpizzi3
1Department of Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|November 24, 2023
Summary
Understanding fake news (FN) vulnerability is crucial. Psychological factors affect truth discrimination similarly for high- and low-relevance news, but influence overall belief differently, especially with cognitive dissonance.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Media Studies
- Information Science
Background:
- The pervasive spread of fake news (FN) necessitates understanding psychological factors influencing misinformation vulnerability.
- Previous research often overlooked the impact of personally relevant, high-stakes news topics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether high-stakes news topics reduce vulnerability to fake news.
- To compare the effects of psychological factors on truth discrimination and belief in fake news versus true news across different relevance levels.
Main Methods:
- Data collected during Italy's COVID-19 lockdown and one year later on political news.
- Comparison of truth discrimination and belief in true news (TN) and fake news (FN) for both COVID-19 and political topics.
Main Results:
- Psychological risk and protective factors similarly impacted truth discrimination, irrespective of news personal relevance.
- Psychological factors exhibited differential effects on overall belief for high- versus low-personal relevance news.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive dissonance in high-stakes contexts may lead individuals to favor proximal or emotional information sources.
- Understanding psychological vulnerability to misinformation is critical, particularly in high-stakes news environments.
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