Negative Is True Here and Now, But Not So Much There and Then

Abstract

Abstract. How do people judge the veracity of a message? The negativity bias in judgments of truth describes the phenomenon that the same message is more likely judged as true when framed negatively compared to positively. This manuscript investigates the negativity bias in conditions of psychological proximity and the possibility that the bias decreases when distance increases. This notion is informed by construal level theory, which holds that negative information is more salient and weighed more strongly in conditions of psychological proximity compared to distance. Against this background, we hypothesize that a negativity bias likely occurs in conditions of proximity. With increasing psychological distance, however, positively compared to negatively framed information is more likely to be judged true, therefore attenuating or even reversing the bias. Two studies provide preliminary yet weak support for this hypothesis. A final registered study put the preliminary conclusions to a critical test and yielded consistent results: We find a significant interaction between frame and distance, indicating a descriptive trend for a negativity bias in conditions of proximity, yet a positivity bias in conditions of distance. This interaction illustrates that psychological distance may impact the negativity bias in truth judgments.

The psychological drivers of misinformation belief and its resistance to correction

“…Misinformation conveying negative emotions such as fear or anger might be particularly likely to evoke a CIE 133,134 . This influence might be due to a general negativity bias 11,135 or more specific emotional influences. For example, misinformation damaging the reputation of a political candidate might spark outrage or contempt, which might promote continued influence of this misinformation (in particular among non-supporters) 134 .…”

Framing of Information, Psychological Distance, and Belief in Health Related Information under Time Pressure in Older Adults

“…To our knowledge, this is the first study which estimates the influence of psychological distance on overall belief in health related information (both true and fake). Even though previous studies imply, that psychological distance plays an important role in making people believe in presented information (Jaffé & Greifeneder, 2020) they do not specify its effect on true and fake news. Findings of current study show, that psychological distance does not influence belief in news -neither in true nor in fake.…”

“…According to Jaffé & Greifeneder (2020), there is a significant association between frame and distance, indicating that there is a descriptive trend for a negativity bias in conditions of proximity, however in conditions of distance a positivity bias is observed. This suggests that psychological distance may impact the negativity bias in truth judgments (Jaffé & Greifeneder, 2020).…”

“…As previously noted, studies show that message characteristics also play an important role. According to Jaffé & Greifeneder (2020) one of the possible explanations to why individuals judge information to be true or false is framing. Authors point out, that the negativity bias in judgments of truth refers to the phenomenon when the same message is more likely to be judged as true when framed negatively compared to positively.…”

“…Furthermore, previous studies stress the importance of message characteristics itself (Bryanov & Vziatysheva, 2021). Framing of information and psychological distance were described as main factors which influence the belief in fake news (Jaffé & Greifeneder, 2020;Jaffé & Greifeneder, 2021). Therefore, the aim of the current study was to estimate the influence of information framing and psychological distance on belief in health-related fake news information under time pressure in older adults.…”