Ethically Motivated or Emotionally Charged? Examining Relationships Among Moral Norms, Anticipated Negative Emotions, and Laypeople’s Online Misinformation Correction Intentions

Abstract

ABSTRACT The extant research on misinformation correction largely emphasizes institutional-approach-based fact-checking practices while underestimating laypeople’s potential to correct misinformation. By incorporating anticipated negative emotions into a norm-activation model and conducting an online survey in China, we scrutinized associations between awareness of misinformation consequences, personal moral norms, anticipated negative emotions, and laypeople’s intention to correct misinformation. The results underscored the distinct roles of personal moral norms and anticipated negative emotions. Moral norms, which were induced by ascription of responsibility, can further propel individuals’ intent to defy and authenticate misinformation, whereas the anticipated negative emotions of misinformation did not play any of such role. Our study revealed a prospective mechanism for engaging laypeople in combating misinformation, signifying the importance of enhancing laypeople’s sense of responsibility toward misinformation and the crucial mediating effects of moral norms on intentions to correct misinformation.