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Democrats are better than Republicans at discerning true and false news but do not have better metacognitive awareness

Psychology

Democrats are better than Republicans at discerning true and false news but do not have better metacognitive awareness

M. Dobbs, J. Degutis, et al.

This groundbreaking study explores how age and political beliefs influence our ability to differentiate between truth and misinformation. Surprisingly, older adults and Democrats excel in distinguishing true from false news headlines compared to their younger and Republican counterparts. Conducted by leading researchers including Mitch Dobbs and Joseph DeGutis, this research reveals intriguing insights into our understanding of misinformation.

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Playback language: English
Abstract
This study investigates the association between demographics (political partisanship, age) and the ability to discern true and false news, metacognitive efficiency, and response bias. Democrats and older adults demonstrated superior accuracy in distinguishing true from false news headlines compared to Republicans and younger adults. However, all demographic groups exhibited good insight into their discernment abilities. While Republicans were less accurate, they showed slightly better metacognitive efficiency using a politically equated item set. This suggests that even when misjudging misinformation, individuals are often aware of potential inaccuracies.
Publisher
Communications Psychology
Published On
Dec 18, 2023
Authors
Mitch Dobbs, Joseph DeGutis, Jorge Morales, Kenneth Joseph, Briony Swire-Thompson
Tags
media literacy
political partisanship
age disparities
misinformation
metacognitive efficiency
news discernment
response bias
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