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
Copyright
©2024 Makayla Hall, Jordan Neely, and Helen C. Harton
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Hall, MaKayla L.; Neely, Jordan A.; and Harton, Helen C., "Political Orientation and Moral Values: Examining their Effects on Susceptibility to Misinformation" (2024). Research in the Capitol. 4.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/rcapitol/2024/all/4
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.
