Meta-analysis: Young adults are more likely to fall for misinformation online
Numerous US studies have investigated who is most easily taken in by misinformation on the Internet. Now there is a summary.
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Younger adults – the "digital natives" – find it more difficult to distinguish between true and false information online. This is one of the more surprising findings of a meta-study by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development on susceptibility to online misinformation. According to the study, older adults (aged between 48 and 88 in this case) are less susceptible to fake news and more skeptical overall. While this contradicts the widespread image of overly gullible senior citizens, the finding that people with higher analytical thinking skills also find it easier to recognize disinformation is more in line with expectations.
Political attitudes also cause differences
For the meta-analysis now presented, the team led by Mubashir Sultan evaluated raw data from 31 US studies on susceptibility to misinformation. A total of 31 experiments with 11,561 participants were included. It was shown, for example, that the level of education had no significant influence on the ability to distinguish between true and false information. At the same time, the analysis confirmed that Republican voters are more likely to be misled by misinformation than Democratic voters. Overall, however, messages that corresponded to the respective political convictions were more easily believed.
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The summary of the state of research could not come at a more important time, according to the research team. For example, the World Economic Forum recently declared that misinformation on the internet is one of the biggest risks in the world. "Given the rise of right-wing populism, the results of the study are highly relevant," says co-author Ralf Kurvers. The results could influence debates on how best to combat it. For example, the study would suggest that there is an urgent need to include media literacy and critical thinking in the school curriculum at an early age and teach them in an age-appropriate way.
(mho)
