scholarly journals Of Pandemics, Politics, and Personality: The Role of Conscientiousness and Political Ideology in Sharing of Fake News

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asher Lawson ◽  
Hemant Kakkar
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Political News ◽  
National Importance ◽  
General Desire

Sharing of misinformation can be catastrophic, especially during times of national importance. Typically studied in political contexts, sharing of fake news has been positively linked with conservative political ideology. However, such sweeping generalizations run the risk of increasing already rampant political polarization. We offer a more nuanced account by proposing that the sharing of fake news is largely driven by low conscientiousness conservatives. At high levels of conscientiousness there is no difference between liberals and conservatives. We find support for our hypotheses in the contexts of Covid-19 and political news across 7 studies (six pre-registered; one conceptual replication) with 4,149 participants and 84,556 unique participant-news observations. Furthermore, our findings suggest the inadequacy of fact-checker interventions to deter the spread of fake news, and that a general desire for chaos drives the interactive effect of political ideology and personality on the sharing of fake news. This underscores the challenges associated with tackling fake news, especially during a crisis like Covid-19 where misinformation threatens to exacerbate the pandemic even further.

scholarly journals Fake news, fast and slow: Deliberation reduces belief in false (but not true) news headlines

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bence Bago ◽  
David Gertler Rand ◽  
Gordon Pennycook
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Fake News ◽  
System 2 ◽  
False News ◽  
News Headlines ◽  
Classical Account

What role does deliberation play in susceptibility to political misinformation and “fake news”? The “Motivated System 2 Reasoning” account posits that deliberation causes people to fall for fake news because reasoning facilitates identity-protective cognition and is therefore used to rationalize content that is consistent with one’s political ideology. The classical account of reasoning instead posits that people ineffectively discern between true and false news headlines when they fail to deliberate (and instead rely on intuition). To distinguish between these competing accounts, we investigated the causal effect of reasoning on media truth discernment using a two-response paradigm. Participants (N= 1635 MTurkers) were presented with a series of headlines. For each, they were first asked to give an initial, intuitive response under time pressure and concurrent working memory load. They were then given an opportunity to re-think their response with no constraints, thereby permitting more deliberation. We also compared these responses to a (deliberative) one-response baseline condition where participants made a single choice with no constraints. Consistent with the classical account, we found that deliberation corrected intuitive mistakes: subjects believed false headlines (but not true headlines) more in initial responses than in either final responses or the unconstrained 1-response baseline. In contrast – and inconsistent with the Motivated System 2 Reasoning account – we found that political polarization was equivalent across responses. Our data suggest that, in the context of fake news, deliberation facilitates accurate belief formation and not partisan bias.

scholarly journals College roommates have a modest but significant influence on each other’s political ideology

2020 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. e2015514117
Author(s):  
Logan Strother ◽  
Spencer Piston ◽  
Ezra Golberstein ◽  
Sarah E. Gollust ◽  
Daniel Eisenberg
Keyword(s):  
Peer Effects ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
College Education ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Political Views ◽  
College Roommates ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Over Time

Does college change students’ political preferences? While existing research has documented associations between college education and political views, it remains unclear whether these associations reflect a causal relationship. We address this gap in previous research by analyzing a quasi-experiment in which university students are assigned to live together as roommates. While we find little evidence that college students as a whole become more liberal over time, we do find strong evidence of peer effects, in which students’ political views become more in line with the views of their roommates over time. This effect is strongest for conservative students. These findings shed light on the role of higher education in an era of political polarization.

scholarly journals Attitudes about COVID-19 in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S.A.: A novel test of political polarization and motivated reasoning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Pennycook ◽  
Jonathon McPhetres ◽  
Bence Bago ◽  
David Gertler Rand
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Motivated Reasoning ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Past Work ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Attitude Polarization ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Cognitive Sophistication

The COVID-19 pandemic has become more political in the U.S.A. than in similar Western countries, allowing for a novel test of attitude polarization. Furthermore, past work disagrees about the role of cognitive sophistication (relative to ideology) in the formation of science beliefs. We therefore investigated the roles of political ideology and cognitive sophistication in explaining COVID-19 attitudes across the U.S.A. (N=689), the U.K. (N=642), and Canada (N=644). Polarization was greater in the U.S. than in the U.K., but not Canada. Furthermore, in all three countries, cognitive sophistication correlated negatively with misperceptions – and in fact was a stronger predictor than political ideology. We also found no evidence that cognitive sophistication was associated with increased polarization, contrary to identity-protective cognition accounts of motivated reasoning. Thus, although there is some evidence for political polarization, accurate beliefs about COVID-19 were broadly associated with the quality of one’s reasoning regardless of political polarization.

scholarly journals Misinformation and Polarization in a High-Choice Media Environment: How Effective Are Political Fact-Checkers?

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Hameleers ◽  
Toni G. L. A. van der Meer
Keyword(s):  
Selective Exposure ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Political News ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Corrective Information

One of the most fundamental changes in today’s political information environment is an increasing lack of communicative truthfulness. To explore this worrisome phenomenon, this study aims to investigate the effects of political misinformation by integrating three theoretical approaches: (1) misinformation, (2) polarization, and (3) selective exposure. In this article, we examine the role of fact-checkers in discrediting polarized misinformation in a fragmented media environment. We rely on two experiments ( N = 1,117) in which we vary exposure to attitudinal-congruent or incongruent political news and a follow-up fact-check article debunking the information. Participants were either forced to see or free to select a fact-checker. Results show that fact-checkers can be successful as they (1) lower agreement with attitudinally congruent political misinformation and (2) can overcome political polarization. Moreover, dependent on the issue, fact-checkers are most likely to be selected when they confirm prior attitudes and avoided when they are incongruent, indicating a confirmation bias for selecting corrective information. The freedom to select or avoid fact-checkers does not have an impact on political beliefs.

scholarly journals Political Effects of the Internet and Social Media

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 415-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Zhuravskaya ◽  
Maria Petrova ◽  
Ruben Enikolopov
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Barriers To Entry ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Political Outcomes ◽  
Internet And Social Media

How do the Internet and social media affect political outcomes? We review empirical evidence from the recent political economy literature, focusing primarily on work that considers traits that distinguish the Internet and social media from traditional off-line media, such as low barriers to entry and reliance on user-generated content. We discuss the main results about the effects of the Internet in general, and social media in particular, on voting, street protests, attitudes toward government, political polarization, xenophobia, and politicians’ behavior. We also review evidence on the role of social media in the dissemination of fake news, and we summarize results about the strategies employed by autocratic regimes to censor the Internet and to use social media for surveillance and propaganda. We conclude by highlighting open questions about how the Internet and social media shape politics in democracies and autocracies.

Individual Differences in the Name Similarity Effect

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-118
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Howard ◽  
Roger A. Kerin
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Impression Management ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Purchase Intentions ◽  
Brand Attitude ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
Similarity Effect ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Usage Context

The name similarity effect is the tendency to like people, places, and things with names similar to our own. Although many researchers have examined name similarity effects on preferences and behavior, no research to date has examined whether individual differences exist in susceptibility to those effects. This research reports the results of two experiments that examine the role of self-monitoring in moderating name similarity effects. In the first experiment, name similarity effects on brand attitude and purchase intentions were found to be stronger for respondents high, rather than low, in self-monitoring. In the second experiment, the interactive effect observed in the first study was found to be especially true in a public (vs. private) usage context. These findings are consistent with theoretical expectations of name similarity effects as an expression of egotism manifested in the image and impression management concerns of high self-monitors.

Everybody Follows the Crowd?

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Obermaier ◽  
Thomas Koch ◽  
Christian Baden
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Bandwagon Effect ◽  
Political News ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
Electoral Preferences

Abstract. Opinion polls are a well-established part of political news coverage, especially during election campaigns. At the same time, there has been controversial debate over the possible influences of such polls on voters’ electoral choices. The most prominent influence discussed is the bandwagon effect: It states that voters tend to support the expected winner of an upcoming election, and use polls to determine who the likely winner will be. This study investigated the mechanisms underlying the effect. In addition, we inquired into the role of past electoral performances of a candidate and analyzed how these (as well as polls) are used as heuristic cues for the assessment of a candidate’s personal characteristics. Using an experimental design, we found that both polls and past election results influence participants’ expectations regarding which candidate will succeed. Moreover, higher competence was attributed to a candidate, if recipients believe that the majority of voters favor that candidate. Through this attribution of competence, both information about prior elections and current polls shaped voters’ electoral preferences.

O̅TA GYU̅ICHI. «SHINCHŌ-KŌ KI», BOOK IX (COMMENTED TRANSLATION INTO RUSSIAN)

2020 ◽  
pp. 229-248
Author(s):  
S. A. Polkhov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Russian Translation ◽  
Wall Paintings ◽  
Pure Land ◽  
Military Leaders ◽  
Unique Information

The article provides a Russian translation of the book IX of «Shincho̅-ko̅ ki». This part of the chronicle narrates the renewal of the war between Nobunaga and Honganji Temple. The followers of the True School of Pure Land besieged in Ozaka managed to inflict painful counterattacks against the forces of the “unifier of Japan”. Nobunaga detachments, trying to capture the Kizu fortress on the outskirts of Ozaka were surrounded and defeated. Ban Naomasa, one of his prominent military leaders, was killed, the army from Ozaka attacked the Tenno̅ji fortress, and only the help immediately rendered by Nobunaga saved the garrison from death. After that, Nobunaga blocked Ozakа on land and at sea. However, the fleet of the Mo̅ri house, which joined the ranks of Nobunaga opponents, and the allies of Mo̅ri were able to defeat the naval forces of Nobunaga and deliver provisions to Ozaka, which allowed Honganji to continue the struggle. Book IX also contains a description of the construction of Azuti Castle and its main tower (tenshu), Nobunaga’s residence. The unique information of the chronicle formed the basis for the further reconstruction of the tenshu’s appearance. The castle became the personification of the wealth and omnipotence of Nobunaga, a reflection of his claims to the role of supreme ruler of Japan. The wall paintings of the main tower halls manifest the influence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The key symbols of the images are taken from Chinese political ideology.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document