Sacha AltayNew WP 😀
We exposed 2735 participants to various proportions of false news (17%, 33%, 50%, 66% 83%), and found that exposure to higher rates of false news erodes trust in the news and fuels skepticism in news judgment.
👉 psyarxiv.com/t9r43
Participants exposed to higher proportions of false news were less trusting of the news and more overconfident in their discernment ability (compared to other participants)
The proportion of false news had no effect on discernment (true - false or true/false) or discrimination (AUC), but it increased conservative response bias (i.e., the tendency to rate all news as more false; B"D)
Finally, participants more interested in the news and scoring higher on the CRT were (much) more discerning, but it did not moderate the effects reported above.
We conclude that exposure to false news may have deleterious effects not by increasing belief in falsehoods, but by reducing belief in true news and by eroding trust in the news media even more.
Feedback is very much welcomed 🤓