High levels of PNS are associated with:

1. attributing errors in news media to willful deception.

2. greater reliance on gender stereotypes and a more superficial categorization of stimuli.


Attributes that correlate with high PNS

Individuals high in PNS are more likely to attribute fake news to willful deception than those with lower levels of PNS. Studies found a consistent positive relationship (causal and correlational) between PNS and the belief that news sources actively try to deceive their audiences. This finding was true for situations when the information supported and combatted one's existing beliefs.

The causal relationship between high PNS and attributing fake news to willful deception

Participants were shown retracted news stories that either supported or contradicted their personal views. The participants were then asked whether they believed that the story was retracted because the story contained false information due to an honest mistake or due to intentional deception.
Both Republicans and Democrats indicated that they believed that the news media was intentionally deceptive.

Those who had a high Personal Need for Structure were more likely to attribute the retraction to intentional deceit, even when the news story supported their own views.

Studying the fake news attribution of retracted news stories

A construct that describes the degree to which one desires predictability and structure in the world. Individuals high in PNS view a structured world as a source of meaning. When in situations that threaten structure, individuals will respond with exaggerated cognitive efforts to restore structure. 


University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

University of California, Davis

Pepperdine University

It is more cognitively appealing to attribute fake news to intentional deceit because humans crave a worldview in which structure and predictability exist. Assuming intentional malice makes fake news more predictable than attributing fake news to random error.

Why attributing fake news to intentional deception is appealing

Axt, J. R., Landau, M. J., & Kay, A. C. (2020). Fake news attributions as a source of nonspecific structure. In R. Greifeneder, M. Jaffé, E. J. Newman, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), The psychology of fake news: Accepting, sharing, and correcting misinformation (pp. 220–234). London: Routledge. 

Fake news attributions as a source of nonspecific structure

Personal Need for Structure (PNS)

Individuals who feel that they have little control over their lives are more likely to attribute fake news to intentional deception.

Learn Before

Related

Learn After