Urgency, group pressure, and inattention predict fake-news sharing

Evidence

We also asked people if they’d ever, knowingly, shared ‘fake news’ on WhatsApp. When we looked at the factors that were most predictive of people’s self-reported sharing of fake news, three stood out: being exposed to urgent messages that contain threatening or harmful information; pretending to agree with a message because of group pressure; and not fully assessing the content of the messages before sharing them. WhatsApp was right to be concerned: these data were revealing a dangerous pattern. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 325

Categorization

• XREF: The group-pressure predictor parallels the conformity findings in the discussion-scenario materials and the deference-to-consensus dynamics in social psychology. — connects to: Humans, not bots, drive the faster spread of false political news — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 347; Closed-group message provenance plus social pressure drives viral misinformation sharing — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 353; Urgent threatening messages, group pressure, and shallow assessment drive fake-news sharing. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 325 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Urgent threatening messages, group pressure, and shallow assessment drive fake-news sharing. #corroborates (1.00) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 325
• Audience laziness and entitlement, not just technology, enable modern fake news #corroborates (0.75) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 212