2024 Research in the Capitol

Presentation Type

Open Access Poster Presentation

Abstract

According to past research, political misinformation is prevalent within social media, where information often goes unchecked. Both liberals and conservatives tend to believe misinformation that supports their beliefs. Values emphasized also tend to differ by political orientation, with liberals being more concerned with issues of harm, fairness, and universalism, and conservatives, with loyalty, authority, purity, and self-reliance. This study examines whether misinformation susceptibility is influenced by which of these values the information appeals to. 136 participants read social media posts that either supported or did not support their party’s platforms and that appealed to one of the seven values. They indicated whether they believed that a post was true or false and their confidence in their response, along with how likely they would be to share the information. We hypothesize that liberals and conservatives will be especially susceptible to believing misinformation that appeals to their moral values.

Start Date

25-3-2024 11:45 AM

End Date

25-3-2024 1:30 PM

Event Host

University Honors Programs, Iowa Regent Universities

Faculty Advisor

Helen C. Harton

Department

Department of Psychology

Department

Department of Biology

File Format

application/pdf

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Mar 25th, 11:45 AM Mar 25th, 1:30 PM

Political Orientation and Moral Values: Examining their Effects on Susceptibility to Misinformation

According to past research, political misinformation is prevalent within social media, where information often goes unchecked. Both liberals and conservatives tend to believe misinformation that supports their beliefs. Values emphasized also tend to differ by political orientation, with liberals being more concerned with issues of harm, fairness, and universalism, and conservatives, with loyalty, authority, purity, and self-reliance. This study examines whether misinformation susceptibility is influenced by which of these values the information appeals to. 136 participants read social media posts that either supported or did not support their party’s platforms and that appealed to one of the seven values. They indicated whether they believed that a post was true or false and their confidence in their response, along with how likely they would be to share the information. We hypothesize that liberals and conservatives will be especially susceptible to believing misinformation that appeals to their moral values.