Individual differences in sharing false political information on social media: deliberate and accidental sharing, motivations and positive schizotypy

Article


Buchanan, T., Perach, R., Husbands, D., Tout, A., Kostyuk, E., Kempley, J. and Joyner, L. 2024. Individual differences in sharing false political information on social media: deliberate and accidental sharing, motivations and positive schizotypy. PLoS ONE. 19 (6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304855
TypeArticle
TitleIndividual differences in sharing false political information on social media: deliberate and accidental sharing, motivations and positive schizotypy
AuthorsBuchanan, T., Perach, R., Husbands, D., Tout, A., Kostyuk, E., Kempley, J. and Joyner, L.
Abstract

False political information – misinformation or disinformation - is widely spread on social media. Individual social media users play a large part in this. However, only a minority actively share false material. It is important to establish what sets these individuals apart from those who do not, and why they do it. Motivations for sharing may vary and are likely to differ between people who share false material unknowingly and on purpose. In this paper we consider the extent to which individual differences in personality and other variables, and motivations for sharing, are associated with the likelihood of people sharing false political information both accidentally and deliberately.
In a series of four studies (Ns=614, 563, 627, 113) we examined predictors of sharing false political information using different methodological approaches.
Across the four studies, a key finding was that positive schizotypy is associated with measures of sharing false information both accidentally and deliberately. Motivations for sharing political information online were also relevant, with sharing for reasons of 'raising awareness' appearing particularly important. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

KeywordsPerception; Social media; Decision making; Reflection; Questionnaires; Twitter; Regression analysis; Forecasting
Sustainable Development Goals16 Peace, justice and strong institutions
Middlesex University ThemeCreativity, Culture & Enterprise
PublisherPublic Library of Science
JournalPLoS ONE
ISSN1932-6203
Publication dates
Print26 Jun 2024
Online26 Jun 2024
Publication process dates
Submitted17 Jan 2024
Accepted21 May 2024
Deposited09 Aug 2024
Output statusPublished
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Copyright Statement

© 2024 Buchanan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304855
Web of Science identifierMEDLINE:38923942
WOS:001259158900044
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