Abstract
AimPrevious research has focused on accuracy associated with real and fake news presented in the form of news headlines only, which does not capture the rich context news is frequently encountered in real life. Additionally, while previous studies on evaluation of real and fake news have mostly focused on characteristics of the evaluator (i.e., analytical reasoning), characteristics of the news stimuli (i.e., news source credibility) and the interplay between the two have been largely ignored. To address these research gaps, this project examined the role of analytical reasoning and news source credibility on evaluation of real and fake full-length news story articles. The project considered both accuracy and perceived credibility ratings as outcome variables, thus qualifying previous work focused solely on news detection accuracy.MethodWe conducted two independent but parallel studies, with Study 2 as a direct replication of Study 1, employing the same design but in a larger sample (Study 1: N = 292 vs. Study 2: N = 357). In both studies, participants viewed 12 full-length news articles (6 real, 6 fake), followed by prompts to evaluate each article’s veracity and credibility. Participants were randomly assigned to view articles with a credible or non-credible source and completed the Cognitive Reflection Test as well as short demographic questions.FindingsConsistent across both studies, higher analytical reasoning was associated with greater fake news accuracy, while analytical reasoning was not associated with real news accuracy. In addition, in both studies, higher analytical reasoning was associated with lower perceived credibility for fake news, while analytical reasoning was not associated with perceived credibility for real news. Furthermore, lower analytical reasoning was associated with greater accuracy for real (but not fake) news from credible compared to non-credible sources, with this effect only detected in Study 2.ConclusionsThe novel results generated in this research are discussed in light of classical vs. naturalistic accounts of decision-making as well as cognitive processes underlying news articles evaluation. The results extend previous findings that analytical reasoning contributes to fake news detection to full-length news articles. Furthermore, news-related cues such as the credibility of the news source systematically affected discrimination ability between real and fake news.
Highlights
Fake news refers to “fabricated information that mimics news media content in form but not in organizational process or intent” (Lazer et al, 2018, p. 1094)
The results extend previous findings that analytical reasoning contributes to fake news detection to full-length news articles
Consistent across both studies, higher analytical reasoning was associated with greater accuracy and reduced perceived credibility for fake news, while analytical reasoning ability did not moderate accuracy and perceived credibility of real news
Summary
Fake news refers to “fabricated information that mimics news media content in form but not in organizational process or intent” (Lazer et al, 2018, p. 1094). While fake news is certainly not a new occurrence—e.g., tabloid magazines have been around for nearly a century (Murray, 2013)—its prominence in and impact on our culture has been growing. This is related to enhanced global connectedness and broader use of online media platforms in modern society which have drastically increased access to news and increased distribution of misinformation via fake news. Analysis of Facebook activity of the top 20 fake and real news stories showed that user engagement was greater for fake compared to real news stories (Silverman et al, 2016). In an analysis of 126,000 real and fake news stories tweeted by about 3 million Twitter users, fake compared to real news spread more than 4.5 million times faster and in a wider range (Vosoughi et al, 2018)
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