SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - BLOG New research suggests both liberals and conservatives are motivated to believe fake news, and dismiss real news that contradicts their ideologies By Scott Barry Kaufman on February 14, 2019
''...Are Liberals and Conservatives Equally Susceptible to Fake News?
The answer is yes. The researchers found that people on both sides of the traditional left-right divide are equally likely to believe political news that is consistent with their ideology, and to disbelieve news that is inconsistent with their side. For instance, liberals judged the anti-Trump story as being much more legitimate than the pro-Trump story, with conservatives showing the opposite judgment. Interestingly, these effects were even more pronounced when they replaced binary party preferences with party warmth judgments. In other words, if you are way left or way right you are even more likely to cognitively distort yourself in all sorts of ways to either believe the news (if it supports your party) or bend over backwards to disconfirm it (if it disconfirms your party's line).
The researchers conclude that "people infer news legitimacy in a way that appears motivated by their own ideological positioning."
These findings are very much in line with Jonathan Haidt's account of motivated reasoning being a big source of divisions in politics and religion.
This finding is also consistent with other research suggesting that there are symmetries among both liberals and conservatives when it comes to motivated reasoning. For instance, liberals and conservatives are similarly motivated to avoid exposure to one another's opinions, and are similarly motivated to deny scientific findings that are inconsistent with their ideology. On the slightly more hopeful side, the average ratings of legitimacy of fake news for both groups was below the midpoint of the scale. This suggests that most people do have at least some capacity to discern true stories from those that are false.
In fact, the researchers found it was important to consider three particular variables to determine whether someone within their party would be particularly susceptible to fake news.
[More at link]
A NATION OF SHEEP BEGET A GOVERNMENT OF WOLVES
''...Are Liberals and Conservatives Equally Susceptible to Fake News?
The answer is yes. The researchers found that people on both sides of the traditional left-right divide are equally likely to believe political news that is consistent with their ideology, and to disbelieve news that is inconsistent with their side. For instance, liberals judged the anti-Trump story as being much more legitimate than the pro-Trump story, with conservatives showing the opposite judgment. Interestingly, these effects were even more pronounced when they replaced binary party preferences with party warmth judgments. In other words, if you are way left or way right you are even more likely to cognitively distort yourself in all sorts of ways to either believe the news (if it supports your party) or bend over backwards to disconfirm it (if it disconfirms your party's line).
The researchers conclude that "people infer news legitimacy in a way that appears motivated by their own ideological positioning."
These findings are very much in line with Jonathan Haidt's account of motivated reasoning being a big source of divisions in politics and religion.
This finding is also consistent with other research suggesting that there are symmetries among both liberals and conservatives when it comes to motivated reasoning. For instance, liberals and conservatives are similarly motivated to avoid exposure to one another's opinions, and are similarly motivated to deny scientific findings that are inconsistent with their ideology. On the slightly more hopeful side, the average ratings of legitimacy of fake news for both groups was below the midpoint of the scale. This suggests that most people do have at least some capacity to discern true stories from those that are false.
In fact, the researchers found it was important to consider three particular variables to determine whether someone within their party would be particularly susceptible to fake news.
[More at link]
A NATION OF SHEEP BEGET A GOVERNMENT OF WOLVES
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