ERIC Number: EJ1336294
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0888-4080
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Available Date: N/A
Interpersonal Factors and Mental Well-Being Are Associated with Accuracy in Judging the Veracity of Political News
Applied Cognitive Psychology, v36 n3 p581-601 May-Jun 2022
More work needs to be done to understand how mental well-being and interpersonal factors are associated with biases in judging the veracity of true and false political information. Three days before the 2020 U.S. presidential election, 477 participants guessed the veracity of true and false political statements. Interpersonal factors (e.g., high prosociality and a need to belong) and mental health risk factors (e.g., high depressive symptoms and low eudaimonic well-being) were highly associated with believing false information. Further, positive well-being was associated with assessing news with a partisan bias. Next, hierarchical regression was used to better understand the combination of factors which best predict accurate judgments. To reduce the chances of overfitting, out-of-sample validation was used. About 40% of the variance for believing false information was explained by high prosociality and low well-being. In addition, well-being mediated the effects of political ideology when assessing the veracity of political information.
Descriptors: Ideology, Well Being, Mental Health, Interpersonal Relationship, Bias, Media Literacy, Politics, Elections, Presidents, Ethics, Deception, Beliefs, News Media, Predictor Variables
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www-wiley-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Data File: URL: https://osf.io/3rxv5/?view_only=cfd69f3e9e1a48deb699c2658c27f8af
Author Affiliations: N/A