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DC Field | Value | Language |
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dc.contributor.author | Altay, S | - |
dc.contributor.author | Acerbi, A | - |
dc.date.accessioned | 2023-03-09T16:58:48Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2023-03-09T16:58:48Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2023-02-17 | - |
dc.identifier | ORCID iDs: Sacha Altay https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2839-7375; Alberto Acerbi https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5827-8003. | - |
dc.identifier.citation | Altay, A. and Acerbi, A. (2023) 'People believe misinformation is a threat because they assume others are gullible', New Media and Society, 0 (ahead-of-print), pp. 1 - 22. doi: 10.1177/14614448231153. | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 1461-4448 | - |
dc.identifier.uri | https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/26103 | - |
dc.description | Data availability: Data, scripts, and pre-registrations are available at: https://osf.io/q4pj8/ | en_US |
dc.description.abstract | Copyright © The Author(s) 2023. Alarmist narratives about the flow of misinformation and its negative consequences have gained traction in recent years. If these fears are to some extent warranted, the scientific literature suggests that many of them are exaggerated. Why are people so worried about misinformation? In two pre-registered surveys conducted in the United Kingdom (Nstudy_1 = 300, Nstudy_2 = 300) and replicated in the United States (Nstudy_1 = 302, Nstudy_2 = 299), we investigated the psychological factors associated with perceived danger of misinformation and how it contributes to the popularity of alarmist narratives on misinformation. We find that the strongest, and most reliable, predictor of perceived danger of misinformation is the third-person effect (i.e. the perception that others are more vulnerable to misinformation than the self) and, in particular, the belief that “distant” others (as opposed to family and friends) are vulnerable to misinformation. The belief that societal problems have simple solutions and clear causes was consistently, but weakly, associated with perceived danger of online misinformation. Other factors, like negative attitudes toward new technologies and higher sensitivity to threats, were inconsistently, and weakly, associated with perceived danger of online misinformation. Finally, we found that participants who report being more worried about misinformation are more willing to like and share alarmist narratives on misinformation. Our findings suggest that fears about misinformation tap into our tendency to view other people as gullible. | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. | en_US |
dc.format.extent | 1 - 22 | - |
dc.format.medium | Print-Electronic | - |
dc.language | English | - |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.publisher | SAGE Publications | en_US |
dc.rights | Copyright © The Author(s) 2023. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of SAGE Publications for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Altay, S. & Acerbi, A. (2023) 'People believe misinformation is a threat because they assume others are gullible', New Media & Society, 0 (0), pp. 1 - 22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231153379]. (https://sagepub.com/journals-permissions). | - |
dc.rights.uri | https://sagepub.com/journals-permissions | - |
dc.subject | alarmist | en_US |
dc.subject | fake news | en_US |
dc.subject | misinformation | en_US |
dc.subject | moral panic | en_US |
dc.subject | new technologies | en_US |
dc.subject | simple solutions | en_US |
dc.subject | third-person effect | en_US |
dc.subject | trust in news | en_US |
dc.title | People believe misinformation is a threat because they assume others are gullible | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |
dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231153 | - |
dc.relation.isPartOf | New Media and Society | - |
pubs.issue | ahead-of-print | - |
pubs.publication-status | Published online | - |
pubs.volume | 0 | - |
dc.identifier.eissn | 1461-7315 | - |
dc.rights.holder | The Author(s) | - |
Appears in Collections: | Dept of Life Sciences Research Papers |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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FullText.pdf | Copyright © The Author(s) 2023. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of SAGE Publications for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Altay, S. & Acerbi, A. (2023) 'People believe misinformation is a threat because they assume others are gullible', New Media & Society, 0 (0), pp. 1 - 22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231153379]. (https://sagepub.com/journals-permissions). | 1.31 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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