They Might Be a Liar But They’re My Liar

Source Evaluation and the Prevalence of Misinformation

Bibliographic Data

ID6337271
AuthorsBriony Swire-Thompson (0000-0001-7464-8940, Northeastern University, corresponding author), Ullrich K H Ecker (0000-0003-4743-313X, The University of Western Australia), Lewandowsky (0000-0003-1655-2013, University of Bristol School of Psychological Science), Adam J Berinsky (0000-0001-7827-9396, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Year2020
Volume41
Issue1
Pages21-34
Publication date2020-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-895X • E-ISSN: 1467-9221
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/pops.12586
OpenAlexW2938837629
LanguageEN
Citations received39
References cited27

Even if people acknowledge that misinformation is incorrect after a correction has been presented, their feelings towards the source of the misinformation can remain unchanged. The current study investigated whether participants reduce their support of Republican and Democratic politicians when the prevalence of misinformation disseminated by the politicians appears to be high in comparison to the prevalence of their factual statements. We presented U.S. participants either with (1) equal numbers of false and factual statements from political candidates or (2) disproportionately more false than factual statements. Participants received fact‐checks as to whether items were true or false, then rerated both their belief in the statements as well as their feelings towards the candidate. Results indicated that when corrected misinformation was presented alongside equal presentations of affirmed factual statements, participants reduced their belief in the misinformation but did not reduce their feelings towards the politician. However, if there was considerably more misinformation retracted than factual statements affirmed, feelings towards both Republican and Democratic figures were reduced—although the observed effect size was extremely small

Democracy · Feeling · Misinformation · Political science · Politics · Law · Media Influence and Politics · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology

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