| Title: |
Individual Differences in Belief in Fake News about Election Fraud after the 2020 U.S. Election |
| Authors: |
Calvillo, Dustin P.; Ritchick, Abraham M.; Garcia, Ryan J.B. |
| Contributors: |
Naval Postgraduate School; Defense Resources Management Institute (DRMI) |
| Publisher Information: |
MDPI |
| Publication Year: |
2021 |
| Collection: |
Naval Postgraduate School: Calhoun |
| Subject Terms: |
fake news; elections; misinformation; conspiracy beliefs; political ideology |
| Description: |
17 USC 105 interim-entered record; under temporary embargo. ; Fake news is a serious problem because it misinforms people about important issues. The present study examined belief in false headlines about election fraud after the 2020 U.S. presiden- tial election. Belief in election fraud had dangerous consequences, including the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January 2021. In the present study, participants rated the truthfulness of true and false headlines about the election, and then completed individual difference measures eight days after the election. Participants with more conservative ideology, greater presidential approval of the outgoing president, greater endorsement of general conspiracy narratives and poorer cog- nitive reflection demonstrated greater belief in false headlines about election fraud. Additionally, consuming more politically conservative election news was associated with greater belief in false headlines. Identifying the factors related to susceptibility to false claims of election fraud offers a path toward countering the influence of these claims by tailoring interventions aimed at decreasing belief in misinformation and decreasing conspiracy beliefs to those most susceptible. ; U.S. Government affiliation is unstated in article text. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
8 p.; application/pdf |
| Language: |
unknown |
| Relation: |
Faculty & Researcher Publications; Calvillo,D.P.; Rutchick, A.M.; Garcia, R.J.B. Individual Differences in Belief in Fake News about Election Fraud after the 2020 U.S. Election. Behav. Sci. 2021, 11, 175. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs11120175; https://hdl.handle.net/10945/69317 |
| Availability: |
https://hdl.handle.net/10945/69317 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.9EEBE6CD |
| Database: |
BASE |