Who falls for fake news? The roles of bullshit receptivity, overclaiming, familiarity, and analytic thinking
Open accessAbstract
Objective: Fake news represents a particularly egregious and direct avenue by which inaccurate beliefs have been propagated via social media. We investigate the psychological profile of individuals who fall prey to fake news. Method: We recruited 1,606 participants from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk for three online surveys. Results: The tendency to ascribe profundity to randomly generated sentences—pseudo‐profound bullshit receptivity—correlates positively with perceptions of fake news accuracy, and negatively with the ability to differentiate between fake and real news (media truth discernment). Relatedly, individuals who overclaim their level of knowledge also judge fake news to be more accurate. We also extend previous research indicating that analytic thinking correlates negatively with perceived accuracy by showing that this relationship is not moderated by the presence/absence of the headline’s source (which has no effect on accuracy), or by familiarity with the headlines (which correlates positively with perceived accuracy of fake and real news). Conclusion: Our results suggest that belief in fake news may be driven, to some extent, by a general tendency to be overly accepting of weak claims. This tendency, which we refer to as reflexive open‐mindedness, may be partly responsible for the prevalence of epistemically suspect beliefs writ large.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Evidence suggests that deliberation is associated with reduced belief in false news headlines that circulated on social media.
“Evidence suggests that deliberation is associated with 134-136 and causes 137 reduced belief in false news headlines that circulated on social media.”
From Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response (2020) · cites this paper as [135]
Cites
(2014) · Climate Change 2013 – The Physical Science Basis · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107415324.004 · Cited by 23,880 · see citing works
(2011) · Cited by 14,317 · see citing works
The spread of true and false news online
Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aap9559 · Cited by 8,847 · see citing works
Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election
Allcott, H., & Gentzkow, M. (2017) · Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/jep.31.2.211 · Cited by 6,767 · see citing works
Cacioppo, J. T., & Petty, R. E. (1982) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.42.1.116 · Cited by 5,359 · see citing works
Cognitive Reflection and Decision Making
Frederick, S. (2005) · Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/089533005775196732 · Cited by 5,256 · see citing works
Dual-Process Theories of Higher Cognition: Advancing the Debate
Evans, J. S. B. T., & Stanovich, K. E. (2013) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691612460685 · Cited by 4,271 · see citing works
Lazer, D. M. J., Baum, M. A., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A. J., Greenhill, K. M., Menczer, F., Metzger, M. J., Nyhan, B., Pennycook, G., Rothschild, D., et al. (2018) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aao2998 · Cited by 4,160 · see citing works
Self-citationWhen Corrections Fail: The Persistence of Political Misperceptions
Nyhan, B., & Reifler, J. (2010) · Political Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11109-010-9112-2 · Cited by 3,173 · see citing works
Individual differences in reasoning: Implications for the rationality debate?
Stanovich, K., & West, R. (2000) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00003435 · Cited by 2,987 · see citing works
Evolution of indirect reciprocity
Nowak, M. A., & Sigmund, K. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04131 · Cited by 2,762 · see citing works
Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E., Feinstein, J. A., & Jarvis, W. B. G. (1996) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.119.2.197 · Cited by 2,517 · see citing works
The Polarizing Impact of Science Literacy and Numeracy on Perceived Climate Change Risks
Braman, D., Kahan, D. M., Peters, E. M., Wittlin, M., Slovic, P., Ouellette, L. L., & Mandel, G. N. (2012) · Scholarly Commons - George Washington University Law School (George Washington University) · Cited by 2,299 · see citing works
The Persuasiveness of Source Credibility: A Critical Review of Five Decades' Evidence
Pornpitakpan, C. (2004) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2004.tb02547.x · Cited by 2,205 · see citing works
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2019) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2018.06.011 · Cited by 2,022 · see citing works
Self-citationHandbook of individual differences in social behavior
(2010) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.47-3482 · Cited by 2,011 · see citing works
Individual differences in intuitive-experiential and analytical-rational thinking styles.
Epstein, S. J., Pacini, R., Denes-Raj, V., & Heier, H. (1996) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.2.390 · Cited by 1,928 · see citing works
Fake news on Twitter during the 2016 U.S. presidential election
Grinberg, N., Joseph, K., Friedland, L., Swire-Thompson, B., & Lazer, D. (2019) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aau2706 · Cited by 1,803 · see citing works
Uniting the Tribes of Fluency to Form a Metacognitive Nation
Alter, A. L., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2009) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868309341564 · Cited by 1,674 · see citing works
Less than you think: Prevalence and predictors of fake news dissemination on Facebook
Guess, A., Nagler, J., & Tucker, J. (2019) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aau4586 · Cited by 1,652 · see citing works
Effects of Perceptual Fluency on Affective Judgments
Reber, R., Winkielman, P., & Schwarz, N. (1998) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00008 · Cited by 1,326 · see citing works
Ideology, motivated reasoning, and cognitive reflection
Kahan, D. M. (2013) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/s1930297500005271 · Cited by 1,302 · see citing works
Prior exposure increases perceived accuracy of fake news
Pennycook, G., Cannon, T. D., & Rand, D. G. (2018) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/xge0000465 · Cited by 1,268 · see citing works
Self-citationFrankfurt, H. G. (2005) · doi:10.1515/9781400826537 · Cited by 1,175 · see citing works
Who Is Rational?: Studies of individual Differences in Reasoning
Stanovich, K. E. (1999) · Cited by 1,114 · see citing works
The Cognitive Reflection Test as a predictor of performance on heuristics-and-biases tasks
Toplak, M. E., West, R. F., & Stanovich, K. E. (2011) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-011-0104-1 · Cited by 1,047 · see citing works
Stanovich, K. E. (1999) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781410603432 · Cited by 956 · see citing works
Measuring Belief in Conspiracy Theories: The Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale
Brotherton, R., French, C. C., & Pickering, A. D. (2013) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00279 · Cited by 950 · see citing works
Fighting misinformation on social media using crowdsourced judgments of news source quality
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2019) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1806781116 · Cited by 947 · see citing works
Self-citationFrequency and the conference of referential validity
Hasher, L., Goldstein, D., & Toppino, T. (1977) · Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0022-5371(77)80012-1 · Cited by 920 · see citing works
Motivated numeracy and enlightened self-government
KAHAN, D. M., PETERS, E., DAWSON, E. C., & SLOVIC, P. (2017) · Behavioural Public Policy · doi:10.1017/bpp.2016.2 · Cited by 883 · see citing works
Whittlesea, B. W. A. (1993) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.19.6.1235 · Cited by 865 · see citing works
Assessing miserly information processing: An expansion of the Cognitive Reflection Test
Toplak, M. E., West, R. F., & Stanovich, K. E. (2014) · Thinking & Reasoning · doi:10.1080/13546783.2013.844729 · Cited by 864 · see citing works
Fiske, S. T. (2013) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781446286395 · Cited by 767 · see citing works
Analytic thinking reduces belief in conspiracy theories
Swami, V., Voracek, M., Stieger, S., Tran, U. S., & Furnham, A. (2014) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2014.08.006 · Cited by 726 · see citing works
Clayton, K., Blair, S., Busam, J. A., Forstner, S., Glance, J., Green, G., Kawata, A., Kovvuri, A., Martin, J., Morgan, E., et al. (2020) · Political Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11109-019-09533-0 · Cited by 658 · see citing works
Begg, I. M., Anas, A., & Farinacci, S. (1992) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037//0096-3445.121.4.446 · Cited by 650 · see citing works
Investigating an alternate form of the cognitive reflection test
Thomson, K. S., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2016) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/s1930297500007622 · Cited by 612 · see citing works
Drummond, C., & Fischhoff, B. (2017) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1704882114 · Cited by 607 · see citing works
Knowledge does not protect against illusory truth.
Fazio, L. K., Brashier, N. M., Payne, B. K., & Marsh, E. J. (2015) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/xge0000098 · Cited by 598 · see citing works
The truth about the truth: a meta-analytic review of the truth effect
Dechêne, A., Stahl, C., Hansen, J., & Wänke, M. (2010) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868309352251 · Cited by 592 · see citing works
Analytic Thinking Promotes Religious Disbelief
Gervais, W. M., & Norenzayan, A. (2012) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1215647 · Cited by 589 · see citing works
Divine intuition: Cognitive style influences belief in God.
Shenhav, A., Rand, D. G., & Greene, J. D. (2012) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/a0025391 · Cited by 557 · see citing works
Self-citationAnalytic cognitive style predicts religious and paranormal belief
Pennycook, G., Cheyne, J. A., Seli, P., Koehler, D. J., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2012) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2012.03.003 · Cited by 544 · see citing works
Self-citationGuess, A. M., Nyhan, B. J., & Reifler, J. (2018) · Cited by 544 · see citing works
On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit
Pennycook, G., Allan Cheyne, J., Barr, N., Koehler, D. J., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2015) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/s1930297500006999 · Cited by 536 · see citing works
Self-citationThe over-claiming technique: Measuring self-enhancement independent of ability.
Paulhus, D. L., Harms, P. D., Bruce, M. N., & Lysy, D. C. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.890 · Cited by 521 · see citing works
Rumors and Health Care Reform: Experiments in Political Misinformation
Berinsky, A. J. (2015) · British Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1017/s0007123415000186 · Cited by 511 · see citing works
Processing political misinformation: comprehending the Trump phenomenon
Swire‐Thompson, B., Berinsky, A. J., Lewandowsky, S., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2017) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.160802 · Cited by 499 · see citing works
What makes us think? A three-stage dual-process model of analytic engagement
Pennycook, G., Fugelsang, J. A., & Koehler, D. J. (2015) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2015.05.001 · Cited by 474 · see citing works
Self-citationMisconceptions, Misinformation, and the Logic of Identity-Protective Cognition
Kahan, D. M. (2017) · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2973067 · Cited by 423 · see citing works
Reflection and Reasoning in Moral Judgment
Paxton, J. M., Ungar, L. D. J., & Greene, J. D. (2011) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/j.1551-6709.2011.01210.x · Cited by 418 · see citing works
Confirmation bias, ingroup bias, and negativity bias in selective exposure to political information
Knobloch-Westerwick, S., Mothes, C., & Polavin, N. (2020) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/0093650217719596 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
Neys, W. D. (2012) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691611429354 · Cited by 386 · see citing works
Everyday Consequences of Analytic Thinking
Pennycook, G., Fugelsang, J. A., & Koehler, D. J. (2015) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721415604610 · Cited by 360 · see citing works
Self-citationThe polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks
Kahan, D. M., Peters, E., Wittlin, M., Slovic, P., Ouellette, L. L., Braman, D., & Mandel, G. (2012) · Nature Climate Change · doi:10.1038/nclimate1547 · Cited by 352 · see citing works
Reversing the truth effect: Learning the interpretation of processing fluency in judgments of truth.
Unkelbach, C. (2007) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.33.1.219 · Cited by 347 · see citing works
Baron, J., Scott, S., Fincher, K., & Emlen Metz, S. (2015) · Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2014.09.003 · Cited by 346 · see citing works
The role of actively open-minded thinking in information acquisition, accuracy, and calibration
Haran, U., Ritov, I., & Mellers, B. A. (2013) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/s1930297500005921 · Cited by 331 · see citing works
Ideology, Motivated Reasoning, and Cognitive Reflection: An Experimental Study
Kahan, D. M. (2012) · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2182588 · Cited by 331 · see citing works
The brain in your pocket: Evidence that Smartphones are used to supplant thinking
Barr, N., Pennycook, G., Stolz, J. A., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2015) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.029 · Cited by 327 · see citing works
Self-citationBronstein, M. V., Pennycook, G., Bear, A., Rand, D. G., & Cannon, T. D. (2019) · Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2018.09.005 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
Self-citationThe role of familiarity in correcting inaccurate information.
Swire‐Thompson, B., Ecker, U. K. H., & Lewandowsky, S. (2017) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/xlm0000422 · Cited by 294 · see citing works
Reminders and Repetition of Misinformation: Helping or Hindering Its Retraction?
Ecker, U. K. H., Hogan, J. L., & Lewandowsky, S. (2017) · Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2017.01.014 · Cited by 276 · see citing works
Does the cognitive reflection test measure cognitive reflection? A mathematical modeling approach
Campitelli, G., & Gerrans, P. (2013) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-013-0367-9 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
Is the cognitive reflection test a measure of both reflection and intuition?
Pennycook, G., Cheyne, J. A., Koehler, D. J., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2015) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-015-0576-1 · Cited by 246 · see citing works
Self-citationPennycook, G., Ross, R. M., Koehler, D. J., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2017) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-017-1242-7 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Self-citationWhy Do We Hate Hypocrites? Evidence for a Theory of False Signaling
Jordan, J., Sommers, R., Bloom, P., & Rand, D. G. (2017) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797616685771 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
Self-citationBrowne, M., Thomson, P., Rockloff, M., & Pennycook, G. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0132562 · Cited by 232 · see citing works
Self-citationPennycook, G., Ross, R. M., Koehler, D. J., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0153039 · Cited by 232 · see citing works
Cognitive style and religiosity: The role of conflict detection
Pennycook, G., Cheyne, J. A., Barr, N., Koehler, D. J., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2013) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-013-0340-7 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
Self-citationGabielkov, M., Ramachandran, A., Chaintreau, A., & Legout, A. (2016) · ACM SIGMETRICS International Conference on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems (SIGMETRICS) · doi:10.1145/2896377.2901462 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Repetition increases perceived truth equally for plausible and implausible statements
Fazio, L. K., Rand, D. G., & Pennycook, G. (2019) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-019-01651-4 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Self-citationCognitive reflection vs. calculation in decision making
Sinayev, A., & Peters, E. M. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00532 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Actively open-minded thinking in politics
Baron, J. (2018) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2018.10.004 · Cited by 199 · see citing works
keersmaecker, J. D., Dunning, D. A., Pennycook, G., Rand, D. G., Sanchez, C. J., Unkelbach, C., & Roets, A. (2019) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167219853844 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Self-citationWartime rumors of waste and special privilege: why some people believe them.
Allport, F. H., & Lepkin, M. (1945) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0058110 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
The Role of Shear Stress in Arteriovenous Fistula Maturation and Failure: A Systematic Review
Browne, L., Bashar, K., Griffin, P. C., Kavanagh, E. G., Walsh, S. R., & Walsh, M. T. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0145795 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
On Known Unknowns: Fluency and the Neural Mechanisms of Illusory Truth
Wang, W., Brashier, N. M., Wing, E. A., Marsh, E. J., & Cabeza, R. E. L. (2016) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00923 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Override the controversy: Analytic thinking predicts endorsement of evolution
Gervais, W. M. (2015) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2015.05.011 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Commentary: Cognitive reflection vs. calculation in decision making
Pennycook, G., & Ross, R. M. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00009 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Self-citationArechar, A. A., Kraft‐Todd, G., & Rand, D. G. (2017) · Journal of the Economic Science Association · doi:10.1007/s40881-017-0035-0 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Self-citationAssessing the Effect of 'Disputed' Warnings and Source Salience on Perceptions of Fake News AccuracyPreprint
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2017) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3035384 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Self-citationRoyzman, E. B., Landy, J. F., & Leeman, R. F. (2014) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.12136 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Landrum, A. R., Lull, R. B., Akin, H., Hasell, A., & Jamieson, K. H. (2017) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2017.05.015 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Royzman, E. B., Landy, J. F., & Goodwin, G. P. (2014) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/s1930297500005738 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Petrocelli, J. V. (2018) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2018.03.004 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Activating analytic thinking enhances the value given to individualizing moral foundations
Yılmaz, O., & Sarıbay, S. A. (2017) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2017.05.009 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Cognitive Reflection Predicts Science Understanding.
Shtulman, A., & McCallum, K. (2014) · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Non-Reflective Thinkers Are Predisposed to Attribute Supernatural Causation to Uncanny Experiences
Bouvet, R., & Bonnefon, J. (2015) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167215585728 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
The New Reflectionism in Cognitive Psychology
Lindeman, M. (2018) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315460178 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Repetition increases perceived truth equally for plausible and implausible statementsPreprint
Fazio, L. K., Rand, D. G., & Pennycook, G. (2019) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/qys7d · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Self-citationReasons and the “Motivated Numeracy Effect”
Ballarini, C., & Sloman, S. (2017) · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · Cited by 6 · see citing works
The new reflectionism in cognitive psychology why reason matters
Pennycook, G. (2018) · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Self-citation(1975) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e581982009-008 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 96 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response
Bavel, J. J. V., Baicker, K., Boggio, P. S., Capraro, V., Cichocka, A., Cikara, M., Crockett, M. J., Crum, A. J., Douglas, K. M., Druckman, J. N., et al. (2020) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-020-0884-z · Cited by 4,964 · see citing works
Self-citationPennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2019) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2018.06.011 · Cited by 2,022 · see citing works
Self-citationPennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2021) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2021.02.007 · Cited by 1,360 · see citing works
Self-citationPrior exposure increases perceived accuracy of fake news
Pennycook, G., Cannon, T. D., & Rand, D. G. (2018) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/xge0000465 · Cited by 1,268 · see citing works
Self-citationFighting misinformation on social media using crowdsourced judgments of news source quality
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2019) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1806781116 · Cited by 947 · see citing works
Self-citationFake news, disinformation and misinformation in social media: a review
Aïmeur, E., Amri, S., & Brassard, G. (2023) · Social Network Analysis and Mining · doi:10.1007/s13278-023-01028-5 · Cited by 772 · see citing works
Pennycook, G., Bear, A., Collins, E., & Rand, D. G. (2020) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.2019.3478 · Cited by 718 · see citing works
Self-citationFake news, fast and slow: Deliberation reduces belief in false (but not true) news headlines.
Bago, B., Rand, D. G., & Pennycook, G. (2020) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/xge0000729 · Cited by 593 · see citing works
Self-citationMisinformation: susceptibility, spread, and interventions to immunize the public
van der Linden, S. (2022) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-022-01713-6 · Cited by 570 · see citing works
Calvillo, D. P., Ross, B. J., Garcia, R. J. B., Smelter, T. J., & Rutchick, A. M. (2020) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550620940539 · Cited by 527 · see citing works
Combating Fake News: A Survey on Identification and Mitigation Techniques
Sharma, K., Qian, F., Jiang, H., Ruchansky, N., Zhang, M., & Liu, Y. (2019) · ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology · doi:10.1145/3305260 · Cited by 514 · see citing works
“Fake News” Is Not Simply False Information: A Concept Explication and Taxonomy of Online Content
Molina, M. D., Sundar, S. S., Le, T., & Lee, D. (2021) · American Behavioral Scientist · doi:10.1177/0002764219878224 · Cited by 485 · see citing works
Resilience to Online Disinformation: A Framework for Cross-National Comparative Research
Humprecht, E., Esser, F., & Aelst, P. V. (2020) · The International Journal of Press/Politics · doi:10.1177/1940161219900126 · Cited by 476 · see citing works
Reliance on emotion promotes belief in fake news
Martel, C., Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2020) · Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications · doi:10.1186/s41235-020-00252-3 · Cited by 470 · see citing works
Self-citationFake news, social media and marketing: A systematic review
Domenico, G. D., Sit, J., Ishizaka, A., & Nunan, D. (2020) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.11.037 · Cited by 463 · see citing works
Brashier, N. M., & Schacter, D. L. (2020) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721420915872 · Cited by 420 · see citing works
Social Media, Echo Chambers, and Political Polarization
Barberá, P. (2020) · Social Media and Democracy · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.004 · Cited by 373 · see citing works
Badawy, A., Ferrara, E., & Lerman, K. (2018) · IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM) · doi:10.1109/asonam.2018.8508646 · Cited by 353 · see citing works
An exploratory study of COVID-19 misinformation on Twitter
Shahi, G. K., Dirkson, A. R., & Majchrzak, T. A. (2021) · Online Social Networks and Media · doi:10.1016/j.osnem.2020.100104 · Cited by 352 · see citing works
Bronstein, M. V., Pennycook, G., Bear, A., Rand, D. G., & Cannon, T. D. (2019) · Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2018.09.005 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
Self-citationLong-term effectiveness of inoculation against misinformation: Three longitudinal experiments.
Maertens, R., Roozenbeek, J., Basol, M., & van der Linden, S. (2021) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied · doi:10.1037/xap0000315 · Cited by 321 · see citing works
Attitudes towards AI: measurement and associations with personality
Stein, J.-P., Messingschlager, T., Gnambs, T., Hutmacher, F., & Appel, M. (2024) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-53335-2 · Cited by 309 · see citing works
Stewardship of global collective behavior
Bak-Coleman, J. B., Alfano, M., Barfuss, W., Bergstrom, C. T., Centeno, M. A., Couzin, I. D., Donges, J. F., Galesic, M., Gersick, A. S., Jacquet, J., et al. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2025764118 · Cited by 289 · see citing works
Brashier, N. M., & Marsh, E. J. (2020) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010419-050807 · Cited by 288 · see citing works
Why the backfire effect does not explain the durability of political misperceptions
Nyhan, B. J. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1912440117 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Bronstein, M. V., Pennycook, G., Bear, A., Rand, D. G., & Cannon, T. D. (2019) · Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/h0101832 · Cited by 271 · see citing works
Self-citationAgley, J. D., & Xiao, Y. (2021) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-020-10103-x · Cited by 266 · see citing works
Luo, M., Hancock, J. T., & Markowitz, D. M. (2022) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/0093650220921321 · Cited by 245 · see citing works
Pennycook, G., McPhetres, J., Bagó, B., & Rand, D. (2021) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672211023652 · Cited by 197 · see citing works
Self-citationArtificial intelligence in digital media: the era of deepfakes
Karnouskos, S. (2020) · IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society · doi:10.1109/tts.2020.3001312 · Cited by 239 · see citing works
Bots and Misinformation Spread on Social Media: Implications for COVID-19
Himelein-Wachowiak, M., Giorgi, S., Devoto, A., Rahman, M. M., Ungar, L., Schwartz, H. A., Epstein, D. H., Leggio, L., & Curtis, B. L. (2021) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/26933 · Cited by 238 · see citing works
Bryanov, K., & Vziatysheva, V. (2021) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0253717 · Cited by 211 · see citing works
Political Psychology in the Digital (mis)Information age: A Model of News Belief and Sharing
Van Bavel, J. J., Harris, E. A., Pärnamets, P., Rathje, S., Doell, K. C., & Tucker, J. A. (2021) · Social Issues and Policy Review · doi:10.1111/sipr.12077 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Online Propaganda
Guess, A. M., & Lyons, B. A. (2020) · Social Media and Democracy · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.003 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
Scaling up fact-checking using the wisdom of crowds
Allen, J., Arechar, A. A., Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2021) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.abf4393 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
Self-citationOverconfidence in news judgments is associated with false news susceptibility
Lyons, B. A., Montgomery, J., Guess, A. M., Nyhan, B. J., & Reifler, J. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2019527118 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Understanding Fake News Consumption: A Review
Baptista, J. P., & Gradim, A. (2020) · Social Sciences · doi:10.3390/socsci9100185 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Mistrust and misinformation: A two-component, socio-epistemic model of belief in conspiracy theories
Pierre, J. M. (2020) · Journal of Social and Political Psychology · doi:10.5964/jspp.v8i2.1362 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Wagner, M. C., & Boczkowski, P. J. (2019) · Digital Journalism · doi:10.1080/21670811.2019.1653208 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Mosleh, M., Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0228882 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Self-citationFake News and Covid-19 in Italy: Results of a Quantitative Observational Study
Moscadelli, A., Albora, G., Biamonte, M. A., Giorgetti, D., Innocenzio, M., Paoli, S., Lorini, C., Bonanni, P., & Bonaccorsi, G. (2020) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph17165850 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Detecting fake news for reducing misinformation risks using analytics approaches
Zhang, C., Gupta, A., Kauten, C., Deokar, A. V., & Qin, X. (2019) · European Journal of Operational Research · doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2019.06.022 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
Sternisko, A., Cichocka, A. K., Cisłak, A., & Bavel, J. J. V. (2021) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672211054947 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Understanding and combatting misinformation across 16 countries on six continents
Arechar, A. A., Allen, J., Berinsky, A. J., Cole, R., Epstein, Z., Garimella, K., Gully, A., Lu, J. G., Ross, R. M., Stagnaro, M. N., et al. (2023) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-023-01641-6 · Cited by 188 · see citing works
Self-citationVraga, E. K., Kim, S. C., & Cook, J. (2019) · Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media · doi:10.1080/08838151.2019.1653102 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
False Equivalence: Are Liberals and Conservatives in the United States Equally Biased?
Baron, J., & Jost, J. T. (2019) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691618788876 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased
Ceylan, G., Anderson, I. A., & Wood, W. (2023) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2216614120 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Social media’s contribution to political misperceptions in U.S. Presidential elections
Garrett, R. K. (2019) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0213500 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Houghton, J., & Vickery, G. (2010) · OECD digital economy papers · doi:10.1787/20716826 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
How college students evaluate and share “fake news” stories
Leeder, C. (2019) · Library & Information Science Research · doi:10.1016/j.lisr.2019.100967 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Emphasizing publishers does not effectively reduce susceptibility to misinformation on social media
Dias, N., Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2020) · Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review · doi:10.37016/mr-2020-001 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Self-citationCoronavirus on Social Media: Analyzing Misinformation in Twitter ConversationsPreprint
Sharma, K., Seo, S., Meng, C.-Z., Rambhatla, S., Dua, A., & Liu, Y. (2020) · arXiv.org · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2003.12309 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Beyond “fake news”: Analytic thinking and the detection of false and hyperpartisan news headlines
Ross, R. M., Rand, D. G., & Pennycook, G. (2021) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/s1930297500008640 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Self-citationFacts and Where to Find Them: Empirical Research on Internet Platforms and Content Moderation
Keller, D., & Leerssen, P. (2020) · Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) · doi:10.1017/9781108890960
van der Meer, T. G. L. A., Hameleers, M., & Ohme, J. (2023) · Journalism Studies · doi:10.1080/1461670x.2023.2187652 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Siegel, A. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.005 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Online searches to evaluate misinformation can increase its perceived veracity
Aslett, K., Sanderson, Z., Godel, W., Persily, N., Nagler, J., & Tucker, J. A. (2023) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06883-y · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Azevedo, F., & Jost, J. T. (2021) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/1368430221990104 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Danry, V., Pataranutaporn, P., Mao, Y., & Maes, P. (2023) · Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3544548.3580672 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
The emerging science of content labeling: Contextualizing social media content moderation
Morrow, G., Swire-Thompson, B., Polny, J., Kopec, M., & Wihbey, J. (2020) · J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol. · doi:10.1002/asi.24637 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
Maertens, R., Götz, F. M., Golino, H. F., Roozenbeek, J., Schneider, C. R., Kyrychenko, Y., Kerr, J. R., Stieger, S., McClanahan, W. P., III, Drabot, K., et al. (2023) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-023-02124-2 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Traberg, C. S., & van der Linden, S. (2021) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.111269 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Koch, T. K., Frischlich, L., & Lermer, E. (2023) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/jasp.12959 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Prominent misinformation interventions reduce misperceptions but increase scepticism
Hoes, E., Aitken, B., Zhang, J., Gackowski, T., & Wojcieszak, M. (2024) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-024-01884-x · Cited by 103 · see citing works
A Psychology of Ideology: Unpacking the Psychological Structure of Ideological Thinking
Zmigrod, L. (2022) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916211044140 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Roozenbeek, J., Maertens, R., Herzog, S. M., Geers, M., Kurvers, R. H. J. M., Sultan, M., & van der Linden, S. (2022) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/s1930297500003570 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Cognitive Reflection and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2018) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167218783192 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Self-citationAltay, S., de Araujo, E., & Mercier, H. (2021) · Digital Journalism · doi:10.1080/21670811.2021.1941163 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Nadarevic, L., Reber, R., Helmecke, A. J., & Köse, D. (2020) · Cognitive Research Principles and Implications · doi:10.1186/s41235-020-00251-4 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Pennycook, G., McPhetres, J., Bagó, B., & Rand, D. (2020) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/zhjkp · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Self-citationLinguistic Cues to Deception: Identifying Political Trolls on Social Media
Addawood, A., Badawy, A., Lerman, K., & Ferrara, E. (2019) · Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media · doi:10.1609/icwsm.v13i01.3205 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
A short review on susceptibility to falling for fake political news
Sindermann, C., Cooper, A. J., & Montag, C. (2020) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.03.014 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Salvi, C., Iannello, P., Cancer, A., McClay, M., Rago, S., Dunsmoor, J. E., & Antonietti, A. (2021) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2020.562588 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
van Prooijen, J., Rodrigues, T. C., Bunzel, C., Georgescu, O., Komáromy, D., & Krouwel, A. P. M. (2022) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12802 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Liu, X., Li, Q. L., Wang, L., & Metzger, M. J. (2023) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/00936502231206419 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
The detection of political deepfakes
Appel, M., & Prietzel, F. (2022) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1093/jcmc/zmac008 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Fake news: Why do we believe it?
Beauvais, C. (2022) · Joint Bone Spine · doi:10.1016/j.jbspin.2022.105371 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Fake news, fast and slow: Deliberation reduces belief in false (but not true) news headlines
Bago, B., Rand, D. G., & Pennycook, G. (2019) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/29b4j · Cited by 593 · see citing works
Self-citationFake News vs Satire: A Dataset and Analysis
Golbeck, J., Mauriello, M., Auxier, B., Bhanushali, K. H., Bonk, C., Bouzaghrane, M. A., Buntain, C., Chanduka, R., Cheakalos, P., Everett, J. B., et al. (2018) · Proceedings of the 10th ACM Conference on Web Science · doi:10.1145/3201064.3201100 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Technique-based inoculation against real-world misinformation
Roozenbeek, J., Traberg, C. S., & van der Linden, S. (2022) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.211719 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Intellectual Humility Predicts Scrutiny of COVID-19 Misinformation
Koetke, J., Schumann, K., & Porter, T. (2022) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550620988242 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Analytic-thinking predicts hoax beliefs and helping behaviors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Stanley, M. L., Barr, N., Peters, K., & Seli, P. (2020) · Thinking & Reasoning · doi:10.1080/13546783.2020.1813806 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Fake news believability: The effects of political beliefs and espoused cultural values
Gupta, M., Dennehy, D., Parra, C. M., Mäntymäki, M., & Dwivedi, Y. (2022) · Information Manager (The) · doi:10.1016/j.im.2022.103745 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Calling BS on ChatGPT: Reflections on AI as a Communication Source
Sundar, S. S., & Liao, M. (2023) · Journalism & Communication Monographs · doi:10.1177/15226379231167135 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Assessing the Effect of 'Disputed' Warnings and Source Salience on Perceptions of Fake News AccuracyPreprint
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2017) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3035384 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Self-citationFactors Predicting Willingness to Share COVID-19 Misinformation
Lobato, E. J. C., Powell, M., Padilla, L. M. K., & Holbrook, C. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566108 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Crowds Can Effectively Identify Misinformation at Scale
Martel, C., Allen, J., Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2024) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916231190388 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Self-citationWho Is Susceptible to Online Health Misinformation?
Scherer, L. D., & Pennycook, G. (2020) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2020.305908 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Self-citationNudging Social Media toward Accuracy
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2022) · The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science · doi:10.1177/00027162221092342 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Self-citationOnline users' attitudes toward fake news: Implications for brand management
Tiago, M. T. B., Tiago, F., Silva, O., Martínez, J. M. G., & Botella-Carrubí, D. (2020) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.21349 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
On the Disposition to Think Analytically: Four Distinct Intuitive-Analytic Thinking Styles
Newton, C., Feeney, J. R., & Pennycook, G. (2023) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672231154886 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Self-citationAn empirical approach to understanding users' fake news identification on social media
Aoun Barakat, K., Dabbous, A., & Tarhini, A. (2021) · Online Information Review · doi:10.1108/oir-08-2020-0333 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Is pro-Kremlin Disinformation Effective? Evidence from Ukraine
Erlich, A., & Garner, C. (2021) · The International Journal of Press/Politics · doi:10.1177/19401612211045221 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Using Social and Behavioural Science to Support COVID-19 Pandemic ResponsePreprint
Bavel, J. J. V., D, K. B. A., Boggio, P. S., Capraro, V., Cichocka, A. K., Cikara, M., Crockett, M. J., Crum, A. J., Douglas, K. M., Druckman, J. N., et al. (2022) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4178356 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Self-citationNetiquette: Ethic, Education, and Behavior on Internet—A Systematic Literature Review
Costa, R. S., Ostáriz, P. L., Medrano, M. M., & Moreno-Guerrero, A.-J. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18031212 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Designing for fake news literacy training: A problem-based undergraduate online-course
Scheibenzuber, C., Hofer, S. I., & Nistor, N. (2021) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2021.106796 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Calvillo, D. P., Garcia, R. J. B., Bertrand, K., & Mayers, T. (2021) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.110666 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
The genuine problem of fake news
Waldrop, M. M. (2017) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1719005114 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
We Only Believe in News That We Doctored Ourselves
Faragó, L., Kende, A., & Krekó, P. (2019) · Social Psychology · doi:10.1027/1864-9335/a000391 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Combating Fake News: A Survey on Identification and Mitigation TechniquesPreprint
Sharma, K., Qian, F., Jiang, H., Ruchansky, N., Zhang, M., & Liu, Y. (2019) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1901.06437 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
- Authors
- Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Regina (CA)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Pennycook, Gordon
- Venue
- Journal of Personality
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-04-12
- Volume
- 88
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 185-200
- ISSN
- 0022-3506 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-6494
- OpenAlex
- W3122883818
- Cited by
- 879
- References
- 96
- Citations by year
- 2026: 78 · 2025: 98 · 2024: 119 · 2023: 119 · 2022: 117 · 2021: 134 · 2020: 122 · 2019: 64 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 220.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Personality (publishedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Strategies and Epistemologies
- Keywords
- fake news, bullshit receptivity, pseudo-profound bullshit, overclaiming, analytical thinking, source credibility, social media misinformation
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Humans, Deception, Male, Personality, Thinking, Recognition, Psychology, Social Media
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review