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Why Some Groups Are More Susceptible to Believing Misinformation
Who is most vulnerable to misinformation?
Posted February 9, 2022 Reviewed by Gary Drevitch
Recently, I was asked if there were sex differences in how consumers respond to, accept, and believe fake news and misinformation. While there are some documented differences, saying that one sex is more likely to believe fake news than another is an oversimplification. In fact, while some research suggests that men are more likely to be susceptible to fake news, other research has found that college-age women may not be able to accurately identify fake news when they see it.
There are documented sociodemographic variations among consumers who obtain their news from social media. For instance, women are more likely to obtain news from Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat compared to men, who are more likely to obtain news from YouTube, LinkedIn, and Reddit. And while this may be related to some of the sex differences we see in terms of fake news and misinformation, there are other sociodemographic variations as well. For example, White consumers are more likely to obtain news from Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit compared to non-White consumers. Younger consumers are more likely to obtain news from Instagram, Snapchat, and Reddit compared to older consumers.
College-educated consumers are more likely to obtain news from Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit when compared to consumers with some college education and those with only a high school diploma. Consumers with a high school diploma or less are more likely to obtain news from Facebook and Instagram. While excessive social media use has been associated with an increase in believing fake news and misinformation, there is much more going on than preferred social media platforms.
Interestingly, research has found that it isn’t just the accuracy of a news piece that is important. For instance, a recent study discovered that the framing of the news piece was also relevant, with women being more influenced by positive framing in media compared to men, who seemed more susceptible to negative framing that essentially induced fear and anxiety. Other research has found that men are more influenced by fake news when it is related to a perceived threat (Wright et al., in revisions).
Consumer race also plays a role. Research has found that White consumers are more likely to be susceptible to fake news and misinformation compared to non-White consumers and that they are particularly susceptible to fake news that targets a fear response. Already we see that the main trend here is the emotional response elicited by the news piece, impacting consumers’ responses to it.
Beyond sex and race, other factors to consider are conservatism and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). Generally, these variables are highly correlated with one another, indicating a similarity in the underlying construct being measured. Conservative consumers are more likely to be susceptible to fake news and misinformation, but this may be in part a reflection of an increase in fake news and misinformation crafted specifically to target conservative consumers.
Conservative consumers may also be more easily primed by such conservative media, compared to liberals, because such media is more likely to frame a news piece in terms of a threat, heightening fear and anxiety among consumers. This fear and anxiety may be associated with feelings of inefficacy, alienation, and cynicism, which are also associated with increased susceptibility to believing fake news, in addition to increased exposure to fake news itself and decreased exposure to hard news. Conservative consumers are more likely to see mainstream news media as producers of misinformation, reflecting a slow progression that began with reporting from the 1970s that conservatives were becoming less trustful of science and researchers. And contemporary right-leaning mainstream news coverage that casts doubt on reputable experts also leads consumers to seek out fake news.
Believing fake news and misinformation is not based just on holding conservative views, though. It is actually a subset of conservatives who are more likely to be susceptible to fake news and misinformation, such as those who have low levels of conscientiousness and an increased desire for chaos. Varying information-processing tendencies, a reliance on heuristics, and motivated reasoning all play a role as well. Consumers who hold a predisposition to reject authority, have a tendency to view major events through the lens of conspiracy thinking, desire causal explanations and subjective certainty, and desire feelings of control and security are more likely to believe fake news and misinformation.
Right-wing authoritarianism is also important. RWA began to increase substantially in the U.S. with the emergence of the Tea Party movement in 2009 and then the 2016 presidential election. Contemporary RWA is associated with an “us versus them” mindset, with “them” being the “socialist left” and “internal enemies” that challenge current social norms. RWA includes ideals related to the inevitability of social inequality and striving for superiority over others, as well as a resistance to change and valuing traditional social norms and values (i.e., conservatism), authoritarian submission, and authoritarian aggression. RWA has also been found to moderate the impact of political messages on consumers, in that those with higher levels of RWA are more receptive to threat content in political messages. This may indicate that consumers with higher levels of RWA are more vulnerable to the emotional framing of fake news content, which is exceptionally relevant when considering the emotional aspect of fake news and misinformation and who is most susceptible to believing it.
Ultimately, any sex difference we see in terms of susceptibility to fake news and misinformation is much more complicated than biological sex. It is a combination of sociodemographic characteristics along with social media exposure, media framing, conservatism, RWA, mainstream news media distrust, personality characteristics, cognitive processes, and other factors associated with susceptibility to fake news and misinformation.
