People who report experiencing more emotion (positive or negative) when reading the news are more likely to believe false (but not true) news

New York University

- Familiarity with the content
- The news source
- How emotionally evocative the content is

Factors that cause people to error when discerning between real and fake news

Gordon Pennycook and David G. Rand, The Psychology of Fake News, Trends in Cognitive Science, Volume 25, Issue 5, 2021, Pages 388-402, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.02.007

The Psychology of Fake News

A single prior exposure to a fake news headline increases later belief in the headline, even if the content is implausible and regardless of political concordance. 

Familiarity with the content

People are more likely to believe content if it comes from a source they deem credible. Social feedback also increases belief in news content (ex: number of likes on the post).

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