Moral anger accelerates misinformation sharing: evidence from experimental manipulations and hierarchical...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Media Studies
• Communication

Background:

• Moral outrage on social media fuels collective action but also spreads misinformation.
• The distinct roles of moral anger and moral disgust in online sharing remain unclear.
• Understanding these emotions is crucial for addressing misinformation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how moral anger and moral disgust interact with source credibility in online information sharing.
• To examine the influence of moral transgression severity and cognitive-affective states on sharing behavior.

Main Methods:

• Three experiments manipulating source credibility, moral transgression severity, and participants' cognitive-affective states.
• Utilized self-report measures and drift-diffusion modeling to analyze decision-making processes.
• Grounded in the Elaboration Likelihood Model and moral emotion theories.

Main Results:

• Higher transgression severity increased willingness to share (WTS), particularly when emphasizing morality.
• Source credibility generally increased WTS, but moral anger overrode credibility cues, unlike moral disgust.
• Anger induction accelerated decision-making and lowered decision thresholds, indicating impulsive sharing.

Conclusions:

• Moral anger acts as a peripheral cue, facilitating impulsive online information sharing.
• Moral disgust does not similarly override source credibility.
• Findings offer insights for developing targeted, emotion-based interventions against online misinformation.