Understanding who is most likely to fall into fake news is the first step towards a strategy to combat misinformation

A global study of over 66,000 participants revealed that which groups of people are most susceptible to misinformation are the most affected.

Study participants evaluated news headlines and tried to determine whether they were real or fake. On average, people struggled to distinguish between reality and fake, if so.

Generation Z (born 1997-2012) More conservative than non-male education

However, some groups were more self-aware than others about their shortcomings when finding misinformation.

“Whether you’re someone, or you think you know, none of us are affected by misinformation,” said Dr. Friedrich Gotts, an assistant professor of psychology at BC University and a senior author of the study. “People should recognize that we are all regularly exposed to misinformation and it’s highly likely that we all fall into it at some point.”

The global spread of misinformation poses a threat to democracy, which depends on the well-informed masses. A new study by UBC’s first author, Hyunjin Koo and Yara Kyrychenko of Cambridge University, is scheduled to be published on Friday in personality and individual differences, highlighting the importance of understanding those at the most risk in developing effective strategies to combat fake news. The survey results are currently available on the PSYARXIV preprint server.

Researchers wanted to understand two important things.

How possible is it possible for different groups of people to fall into misinformation? How well people think that they can find fake news.

They used a test called The Misolformation Sectrencebuly Test (MIST), which has been rigorously verified by psychologists and is available free online. It provides a combination of news headlines for participants to decide which is authentic. The sample headings are as follows:

Small groups of people control the global economy by manipulating gold and oil prices

Left wing is likely to lie to get good results

The government is making a massive cover-up of its involvement on 9/11

In 2018, about a quarter of the US’s large newspapers fired staff

By comparing how well participants performed on the test, researchers learned where the gap between actual abilities and self-assessment lies.

Young digital natives have been shown to perform poorly

It is generally believed that a higher exposure to the digital environment among young people will provide excellent digital literacy. Generation Z performance did not reflect this, but was very accurate in predicting performance degradation.

“There is still this broad misconception that digital natives are excellent at navigating these environments,” Dr. Goetz said. “It’s been exposed in the academic world for quite some years now, but I don’t think it’s translated into public consciousness.”

People with more conservative political views were more likely to believe in misinformation. The score was lowest at the most conservative end of the political spectrum. Conservatives were pretty accurate in judging their ability to find misinformation, but this was far too true for people with extreme perspectives.

Women were slightly more likely to fall due to misinformation than men, beyond the larger sample. However, they were better than men at accurately determining their abilities.

Finally, those who had been to college or had a higher degree were better than those who had a high school diploma or below. However, more educated people overestimated their ability to find misinformation.

The work of Dr. Getz and his team could lead to more standard policies and education programs to reduce the sensitivity of misinformation, but only if this is a priority for the government.

“My feeling is that not all democracies are actually trying to address this issue. What’s worse, in the polarized world we live in, some actors, including politicians, may intentionally weaponize it,” Dr. Getz said.

“But I think if the government wants to act in good faith and resolve this issue in society, they can use this research to raise awareness and move towards more intervention-based research.”