“Angry people were more likely” than others to fall into the trap of misinformation, and this was the main factor in predicting that they would fall into the trap, write the two authors of a recent study and psychology.
Their conclusion is consistent with that of recent research on the mechanisms of online disinformation, where the appeal to emotion has regularly been identified as one of the main factors success of a fake news. In their small study (79 participants) the two psychologists from Stony Brook University (New York) instead tested the reactions to a film, by manipulating the conditions of the experience – in one case, one of the people who passed the test was deliberately aggressive and disorganized, so as to distinguish which guinea pigs would be classified as “calm” or “angry”.
So the research was not specifically about reactions to fake news on social media. But as the researchers explain, better understanding how emotions affect judgment a son importance in many other circumstances, from interpersonal relationships to the reliability of a witness in court …
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