Why does misinformation spread more effectively than information? Emotion reportedly predicts easier acceptance and efficacy reportedly predicts faster spread. However, scientific information is not designed to appeal to either of these. Scientific reports are often inconclusive and suggest that further research is needed, rather than offer conclusions and efficacious solutions. They are also designed to mitigate bias, producing work that can only manipulate emotions as well as its topic does. There may be cause to believe that the spread of misinformation is not only a matter of what misinformation offers to knowledge processing, but also what factual information fails to offer.

Facts Are Not Designed to be Spread

With reference to COVID-19 misinformation, social sharing of emotion, especially positive emotion, emerged as a relatively stronger predictor of sharing intention than credibility. This suggests that emotion may hold the primary role in the sharing of misinformation.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Studies have found that strong emotions influence information sharing regardless of the factuality of the information shared. Other factors indirectly influence sharing intention by influencing emotion, which directly influences sharing intention. Research finds that novelty reduces positive emotions and increases negative emotions such as fear, leading to a reduction in sharing intention. Furthermore, high efficacy increases positive emotions such as relief, and reduced negative emotions such as worry, resulting in higher information sharing.

Emotion and Sharing Intention

Song, H., So, J., Shim, M., Kim, J., Kim, J., & Lee, K. (2023). What message features influence the intention to share misinformation about COVID-19 on social media? The role of efficacy and novelty. Computers in Human Behavior, 138, 107439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107439

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