Aging in an “infodemic”: The role of analytical reasoning, affect, and news consumption frequency on news veracity detection.

Abstract

Increasing misinformation spread poses a threat to older adults but there is little research on older adultswithin the fake news literature. Embedded in the Changes in Integration for Social Decisions in Aging (CISDA) model, this study examined the role of (i) analytical reasoning; (ii) affect; (iii) news consumption frequency, and their interplay with (iv)news contenton news veracity detection in aging. Conducted during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the current study asked participants to view and evaluateCOVIDor non-COVID (i.e., everyday) news articles,followed by measures of analytical reasoning, affect, and news consumption frequency. News veracity detection was comparable between young and older adults. Additionally, fake news detection for non-COVID news was predicted by individual differences in analytic reasoning for both age groups.However, chronological age effects in fake news detection emerged within the older adult sample and interacted with the CISDA-derived components of analytical reasoning, affect, and news consumption frequency by news content. Collectively, these findings suggest that age-related vulnerabilities to deceptive news are only apparent in very old age. Our findings advance understanding of psychological mechanisms in news veracity detection in aging.

Publication
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied
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