08:30 - 10:00
Tue-HS3-Talk IV-
Tue-Talk IV-
Room: HS3
Chair/s:
Michael Geers
Misinformation poses a serious challenge to societies and democracies worldwide. This symposium brings together novel methodological approaches and empirical insights on the psychology of misinformation, but also critically discusses current research practices and paradigms. Talk 1 (Lena Nadarevic, University of Mannheim) introduces an experiment testing the effectiveness of warnings against the truth effect in a simulated social media environment. Talk 2 (Mubashir Sultan, Max Planck Institute for Human Development) presents a meta-analysis on news veracity judgments of misinformation. It will aggregate previous findings, highlighting pertinent trends for the predictors of misinformation susceptibility, including demographics (e.g., age, political identity), analytical thinking, partisan bias, and the illusory truth effect. Talk 3 (Michael Geers, Max Planck Institute for Human Development) introduces a task analysis that identifies the processes required for users to share true content online. It also highlights some cognitive and motivational challenges for sharing true content, maps interventions, and identifies open research questions. Finally, a panel discussion critically discusses the current state of misinformation research, including reflections on the ecological validity of experimental paradigms and the extent to which some work on misinformation has come short of building on previous psychological research. Next to the speakers of talks 1-3, the discussion features Pia Lamberty, co-director of the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS). She studies how people at the center of society are radicalized by conspiracy theories and reject democracy altogether, and her real-world experience may offer a new perspective that many experimental psychologists do not have.
A Systematic Meta-Analysis of Demographic and Psychological Factors Underlying Online Misinformation Veracity Judgements
Tue-HS3-Talk IV-02
Presented by: Mubashir Sultan
Mubashir Sultan 1, 2, Alan Tump 1, 3, Anton Gollwitzer 1, 4, Philipp Lorenz-Spreen 1, Ralph Hertwig 1, Ralf Kurvers 1, 3
1 Max Planck Institute for Human Development (Center for Adaptive Rationality), 2 Humboldt University of Berlin (Department of Psychology), 3 Technical University of Berlin (Exzellenzcluster Science of Intelligence), 4 BI Norwegian Business School (Department of Leadership and Organisational Behaviour)
Many scholars agree that misinformation poses a serious threat to democracy, noting that the way(s) it is impacting the democratic process remains mostly unknown. As a response, a large effort is currently underway to uncover factors that make one vulnerable to misinformation. While this body of research has been instrumental for our understanding, the literature is fragmented, making it difficult to derive general conclusions about the importance and comparative strength of different factors. Research on key standard demographics (such as age, gender, education, and political identity) and psychological factors (such as analytical thinking, partisan bias, motivated reflection, and familiarity) is largely scattered, and in some cases, not frequently reported. Here, we aim to aggregate these disparate findings by conducting a systematic meta-analysis, synthesising the evidence for the impact of general demographic and psychological factors on misinformation veracity judgements. We carry out a reanalysis of raw data using signal detection theory (SDT) for statistical inference. Critically, SDT provides a more nuanced understanding of news veracity, as it can distinguish between one’s ability to judge between true and false news (i.e., discrimination ability) and one’s response tendencies (i.e., response bias; the likelihood of selecting one option [true news] over another [false news]). Overall, with this systematic meta-analysis, we aim to better understand the role of the above-mentioned demographic and psychological factors on misinformation veracity judgements, ultimately helping to inspire further theory and intervention building.
Keywords: analytical thinking, false news, illusory truth effect, misinformation, motivated reflection, partisan bias, signal detection theory