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The priming of scepticism and its possible role in detecting fake and real news about climate change

Hussein Oglu, Emre (2020) The priming of scepticism and its possible role in detecting fake and real news about climate change.

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Abstract:The topic of fake news gained a lot of attention in recent years and displays an increasing danger for society now and in the future. Gaining more insight into concepts which could play a role in peoples trust level in real or fake news can be valuable in developing methods for combating the spread of fake news. The aim of this study was to measure the impact the priming of scepticism could have on the level of scepticism of participants and their ability to differentiate real from fake news, with the focus on news about climate change. In order to do this participants (N=114) took part in a study in which they were put in two conditions and were either exposed to a scepticism primer or not exposed to said primer and had to fill out a set of questionnaires. The participants ability to differentiate real and fake news from each other was measured by having them read several news articles, some of which were real news articles and some of which were fake and having them answer a few questions about the news articles. Furthermore, the participants had to fill out a questionnaire which measured their level of scepticism. The study revealed that participants in the priming condition had a higher level of scepticism. However, the priming had no significant effect on their ability to differentiate real from fake news. Additionally, it was not possible to establish a correlation between the concept of scepticism and the ability to differentiate real from fake news.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/80427
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