The role of personality traits and online behavior in belief in fake news

The proliferation of fake news, conspiracy theories, and misinformation poses a significant threat. Belief in such narratives can lead to real-world consequences, such as reduced participation in public health initiatives (e.g., vaccination). This study investigates the role of personality in susceptibility to misinformation. While previous research has focused on the Big Five personality traits, this study expands on this by incorporating Honesty-Humility and the Dark Triad traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy). The study also explores the role of careless online behavior, encompassing online disinhibition, risky online behaviors, engagement with strangers, and suspicion of others' intentions. The hypothesis is that individuals exhibiting these traits and behaviors will be less accurate in distinguishing between real and fake news headlines. Furthermore, the study examines the influence of demographic factors like age, gender, and religiosity on fake news detection.

Existing research suggests a link between personality and the ability to identify misinformation. Studies using the Big Five model have shown that Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness are associated with better accuracy in distinguishing real from fake news, while Extraversion is negatively correlated. However, the Big Five model lacks the Honesty-Humility trait, which has been shown to predict careless online behavior. There's also limited research on the Dark Triad traits and their role in misinformation detection. While some studies suggest a relationship between the Dark Triad and conspiratorial beliefs, the findings are inconsistent across studies, potentially due to different measurement tools. Previous work has examined the influence of demographic factors such as gender (with mixed results), religiosity (positive correlation with misinformation belief), and age (younger individuals showing greater susceptibility).

The study used a sample of 510 Canadian and American adults (315 female, 188 male, 4 other) recruited through Qualtrics Panels. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire including age, gender, education, employment, and religiosity (using a scale from Pennycook et al., 2016). Online behavior was assessed using the Risky Online Behaviors scale (ROB), Online Disinhibition scale (OD), and Openness to Form Online Relationships scale (OFOR). Personality was measured using the HEXACO-PI-R and the Short Dark Triad (SD3). The core task involved identifying real versus fake news headlines (24 total, adapted from Peter et al., 2021). Signal detection theory (d' and c) was used to analyze headline task performance. Correlations were calculated to examine the relationships between demographic variables, online behavior, personality traits, and headline task accuracy and response bias.

The results showed a negative correlation between religiosity and headline task accuracy (r = -0.24, p < 0.001), indicating that less religious individuals were better at distinguishing real from fake news. No significant gender differences in headline task performance were observed. Lower Honesty-Humility (r = 0.22, p < 0.001), lower Openness (r = 0.16, p < 0.001), and lower Conscientiousness (r = 0.20, p < 0.001) were associated with poorer performance on the headline task. Higher Machiavellianism (r = -0.19, p < 0.001), Narcissism (r = -0.22, p < 0.001), and Psychopathy (r = -0.25, p < 0.001) also correlated with reduced accuracy. Greater online disinhibition, risky online behavior, and engagement with strangers were linked to poorer performance. A response bias toward rating headlines as true was observed among individuals with higher levels of online disinhibition, risky online behavior, engagement with strangers, Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy, and lower Honesty-Humility.

The findings confirm the influence of personality and online behavior on misinformation detection. The study replicates previous findings on the association between Openness and Conscientiousness and fake news detection but provides novel insights into the roles of Honesty-Humility and the Dark Triad. Low Honesty-Humility and high Dark Triad traits are associated with reduced accuracy and a bias towards accepting information as true, suggesting a potential underlying tendency to trust information regardless of veracity. Careless online behavior, characterized by disinhibition, engagement with strangers, and low suspicion, is also linked to poorer accuracy and response bias. The demographic findings align with previous research, showing a negative correlation between age and accuracy and a negative correlation between religiosity and accuracy. The lack of significant gender differences supports some prior research but contrasts with others, likely reflecting the variety of misinformation types used across studies.

This study highlights the interconnectedness of personality, online behavior, and susceptibility to misinformation. The results suggest that media literacy programs should focus on promoting critical thinking, skepticism, and self-awareness regarding personal biases and online risk-taking. Future research should explore the causal relationships between these factors and the effectiveness of targeted interventions to enhance misinformation detection capabilities.

The study's correlational nature limits causal inferences. Small effect sizes are common in psychological research, particularly for complex phenomena. The use of self-report measures raises concerns about socially desirable responding, and future research could benefit from incorporating alternative measures, such as peer reports. The study's scope could be expanded to include other variables and experimental designs. Pre-registration of future studies would improve reproducibility.