IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v10y2023i1d10.1057_s41599-023-01813-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Distractions, analytical thinking and falling for fake news: A survey of psychological factors

Author

Listed:
  • Adrian Kwek

    (Singapore University of Social Sciences)

  • Luke Peh

    (Singapore University of Social Sciences)

  • Josef Tan

    (Ministry of Education)

  • Jin Xing Lee

    (National University of Singapore)

Abstract

Analytical thinking safeguards us against believing or spreading fake news. In various forms, this common assumption has been reported, investigated, or implemented in fake news education programs. Some have associated this assumption with the inverse claim, that distractions from analytical thinking may render us vulnerable to believing or spreading fake news. This paper surveys the research done between 2016 and 2022 on psychological factors influencing one’s susceptibility to believing or spreading fake news, considers which of the psychological factors are plausible distractors to one’s exercise of analytical thinking, and discusses some implications of considering them as distractors to analytical thinking. From these, the paper draws five conclusions: (1) It is not analytical thinking per se, but analytical thinking directed to evaluating the truth that safeguards us from believing or spreading fake news. (2) While psychological factors can distract us from exercising analytical thinking and they can also distract us in exercising analytical thinking. (3) Whether a psychological factor functions as a distractor from analytical thinking or in analytical thinking may depend on contextual factors. (4) Measurements of analytical thinking may not indicate vulnerability to believing or spreading fake news. (5) The relevance of motivated reasoning to our tendency to believe fake news should not yet be dismissed. These findings may be useful to guide future research in the intersection of analytical thinking and susceptibility to believing or spreading fake news.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrian Kwek & Luke Peh & Josef Tan & Jin Xing Lee, 2023. "Distractions, analytical thinking and falling for fake news: A survey of psychological factors," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-01813-9
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-01813-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-023-01813-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-023-01813-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Seoyong Kim & Sunhee Kim, 2020. "The Crisis of Public Health and Infodemic: Analyzing Belief Structure of Fake News about COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-23, November.
    2. Samuli Laato & A. K. M. Najmul Islam & Muhammad Nazrul Islam & Eoin Whelan, 2020. "What drives unverified information sharing and cyberchondria during the COVID-19 pandemic?," European Journal of Information Systems, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 288-305, May.
    3. Hunt Allcott & Matthew Gentzkow, 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election," NBER Working Papers 23089, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Michael MacKuen & Jennifer Wolak & Luke Keele & George E. Marcus, 2010. "Civic Engagements: Resolute Partisanship or Reflective Deliberation," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(2), pages 440-458, April.
    5. Osmundsen, Mathias & Bor, Alexander & Vahlstrup, Peter Bjerregaard & Bechmann, Anja & Petersen, Michael Bang, 2021. "Partisan Polarization Is the Primary Psychological Motivation behind Political Fake News Sharing on Twitter," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 115(3), pages 999-1015, August.
    6. Cherniece J. Plume & Emma L. Slade, 2018. "Sharing of Sponsored Advertisements on Social Media: A Uses and Gratifications Perspective," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 471-483, June.
    7. Kahan, Dan M. & Peters, Ellen & Dawson, Erica Cantrell & Slovic, Paul, 2017. "Motivated numeracy and enlightened self-government," Behavioural Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 54-86, May.
    8. Bart de Langhe & Philip M. Fernbach & Donald R. Lichtenstein, 2016. "Navigating by the Stars: Investigating the Actual and Perceived Validity of Online User Ratings," Journal of Consumer Research, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(6), pages 817-833.
    9. Balakrishnan, Vimala & Ng, Kee S. & Rahim, Hajar Abdul, 2021. "To share or not to share – The underlying motives of sharing fake news amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Zhonggen Sun & Xin Cheng & Ruilian Zhang & Bingqing Yang, 2020. "Factors Influencing Rumour Re-Spreading in a Public Health Crisis by the Middle-Aged and Elderly Populations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-14, September.
    11. repec:cup:judgdm:v:16:y:2021:i:6:p:1575-1596 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Robert B. Michael & Mevagh Sanson, 2021. "Source Information Affects Interpretations of the News across Multiple Age Groups in the United States," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-15, October.
    13. Kai Li & Jie Li & Fen Zhou, 2022. "The Effects of Personality Traits on Online Rumor Sharing: The Mediating Role of Fear of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-13, May.
    14. Çiğdem Bozdağ & Suncem Koçer, 2022. "Skeptical Inertia in the Face of Polarization: News Consumption and Misinformation in Turkey," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 169-179.
    15. Joanne M. Miller & Kyle L. Saunders & Christina E. Farhart, 2016. "Conspiracy Endorsement as Motivated Reasoning: The Moderating Roles of Political Knowledge and Trust," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 60(4), pages 824-844, October.
    16. Hunt Allcott & Matthew Gentzkow, 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 211-236, Spring.
    17. João Pedro Baptista & Elisete Correia & Anabela Gradim & Valeriano Piñeiro-Naval, 2021. "The Influence of Political Ideology on Fake News Belief: The Portuguese Case," Publications, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, May.
    18. Tom Buchanan, 2020. "Why do people spread false information online? The effects of message and viewer characteristics on self-reported likelihood of sharing social media disinformation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-33, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. François t'Serstevens & Roberto Cerina & Giulia Piccillo, 2024. "Mapping the Risk of Spreading Fake-News via Wisdom-of-the-Crowd & MrP," CESifo Working Paper Series 11138, CESifo.
    2. Sumit S. Deole & Yue Huang, 2024. "Suffering and prejudice: do negative emotions predict immigration concerns?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 1-39, June.
    3. Raúl Rodríguez-Ferrándiz, 2023. "An Overview of the Fake News Phenomenon: From Untruth-Driven to Post-Truth-Driven Approaches," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(2), pages 15-29.
    4. Andrew P. Weiss & Ahmed Alwan & Eric P. Garcia & Antranik T. Kirakosian, 2021. "Toward a Comprehensive Model of Fake News: A New Approach to Examine the Creation and Sharing of False Information," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Khan, Nuzaina & Rand, David & Shurchkov, Olga, 2024. "He Said, She Said: Who Gets Believed When Spreading (Mis)Information," IZA Discussion Papers 17282, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Andrea Rosales & Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol & Madelin Gómez-León & Pedro Jacobetty, 2024. "Old age is also a time for change: trends in news intermediary preferences among internet users in Canada and Spain," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Ayesha Ali & Ihsan Ayyub Qazi, 2021. "Countering Misinformation on Social Media Through Educational Interventions: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Pakistan," Papers 2107.02775, arXiv.org.
    8. Kerim Peren Arin & Juan A. Lacomba & Francisco Lagos & Deni Mazrekaj & Marcel Thum, 2021. "Misperceptions and Fake News during the Covid-19 Pandemic," CESifo Working Paper Series 9066, CESifo.
    9. Ali, Ayesha & Qazi, Ihsan Ayyub, 2023. "Countering misinformation on social media through educational interventions: Evidence from a randomized experiment in Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    10. Mohamed Mostagir & James Siderius, 2022. "Learning in a Post-Truth World," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 2860-2868, April.
    11. Sarraf, Shagun & Kushwaha, Amit Kumar & Kar, Arpan Kumar & Dwivedi, Yogesh K. & Giannakis, Mihalis, 2024. "How did online misinformation impact stockouts in the e-commerce supply chain during COVID-19 – A mixed methods study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    12. Mohsen Mosleh & David G. Rand, 2022. "Measuring exposure to misinformation from political elites on Twitter," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Daniel-Rareș Obadă & Dan-Cristian Dabija, 2022. "“In Flow”! Why Do Users Share Fake News about Environmentally Friendly Brands on Social Media?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-26, April.
    14. Leopoldo Fergusson & Carlos Molina, 2020. "Facebook Causes Protests," HiCN Working Papers 323, Households in Conflict Network.
    15. Dean Neu & Gregory D. Saxton & Abu S. Rahaman, 2022. "Social Accountability, Ethics, and the Occupy Wall Street Protests," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 17-31, September.
    16. Robbett, Andrea & Matthews, Peter Hans, 2018. "Partisan bias and expressive voting," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 107-120.
    17. Henrik Skaug Sætra, 2021. "AI in Context and the Sustainable Development Goals: Factoring in the Unsustainability of the Sociotechnical System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    18. Fathey Mohammed & Nabil Hasan Al-Kumaim & Ahmed Ibrahim Alzahrani & Yousef Fazea, 2023. "The Impact of Social Media Shared Health Content on Protective Behavior against COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-16, January.
    19. Bartosz Wilczek, 2020. "Misinformation and herd behavior in media markets: A cross-national investigation of how tabloids’ attention to misinformation drives broadsheets’ attention to misinformation in political and business," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-22, November.
    20. Joël Cariolle & Yasmine Elkhateeb & Mathilde Maurel, 2022. "(Mis-)information technology: Internet use and perception of democracy in Africa," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 22010, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-01813-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.