Mediated Misinformation: Questions Answered, More Questions to Ask

Abstract

With the rampant increase of misinformation produced and distributed online at an alarming rate, it has become more imperative than ever to understand what makes people fall for misinformation. Drawing on the literature on persuasion, credibility of online information, and digital deception, we first review a list of factors associated with the source, message, channel, and receiver that may alter the extent to which people judge information as truthful and believable. Based on critical assessments of the gaps in the literature, suggestions are offered to shape future research agendas and develop an integrative conceptual framework.

Perceptions of mis- or disinformation exposure predict political cynicism: Evidence from a two-wave survey during the 2018 US midterm elections

“…In terms of the moment of exposure, social media users may be incidentally exposed to news stories including mis-/disinformation (Lee and Shin, 2019; Nelson and Taneja, 2018) because a majority of people visit social media sites to maintain relationships and socialize rather than for political or informational purposes (Lane et al, 2017). Social media users, however, may effortlessly spot mis-/disinformation because it is often shared by their social network members.…”

Narratives are Persuasive Because They are Easier to Understand: Examining Processing Fluency as a Mechanism of Narrative Persuasion

“…Our goals are to 1) examine whether narratives are more persuasive than non-narratives and 2) evaluate two theoretical mechanisms that could be responsible for these effects (identification and processing fluency). Because processing a narrative is different than processing a non-narrative (Zwaan, 1994;Lee and Shin, 2019) in ways that should optimize persuasion (Green and Brock, 2000), we expect to obtain greater persuasive outcomes in the narrative format condition.…”

“…Scholars have noted that narratives have been used in human communication for thousands of years, with some suggesting that narratives serve as educational tools for individuals to share lessons with one another (Fisher, 1985). Together, these ideas have led to suggestions that people may process narratives differently (Slater and Rouner, 2002;Moyer-Gusé, 2008), and that narratives may be easier to process than other types of information (Green and Donahue, 2018;Lee and Shin, 2019).…”

Pseudo-Information, Media, Publics, and the Failing Marketplace of Ideas: Theory

“…Finally, personal lies will typically make use of fewer sources and a lower number of partici-pants, while fake news will attempt to capture the largest number of participants possible and will embrace the use of more sources. Lee and Shin (2019) delve into some of the most germane factors to understand why misinformation is disseminated online. Borrowing from strands of political persuasion literature, as well as from works on the credibility of online information and digital deception, the article focuses on pragmatic factors that cause ordinary citizens to take the information they are exposed to through social and digital media as truthful.…”