- To measure cognitive ability, participants of Amazon Mechanical Turk took an intelligence test, known as the Ammons Quick Test, to assess the amount of evidence people gather before coming to a conclusion.
- To measure emotional investment, the participants completed three different measures: a "feeling thermometer" toward Democrats/Republicans, what emotions they felt toward each political party, and their emotions regarding the upcoming midterm election.
- To measure misbelief, participants rated how well they believed certain misinformation that aligned with either Democratic or Republican beliefs. 

Overview of Study 1: Cognition and Emotion

At two different time intervals, participants were asked how they perceived friendly and unfriendly political misinformation. 

- At Time 1, the researchers asked participants about their emotions towards misbeliefs that many people believed to be true, which demonstrated a mark of truthfulness to the claim. Whether the participants felt more validated or more dissonance to the misbeliefs was observed.
- At Time 2, participants rated how truthful they personally found the political misinformation to be. Afterwards, feelings of validation or dissonance was observed among the participants.

Overview of Study 2: Tracing Emotional Management

Both emotional and cognitive factors correlate with the endorsement of political misinformation, but in different ways. Lower cognitive skills predict a higher endorsement of political misinformation, regardless of whether it aligns with or opposes an individual's political identity. Conversely, higher emotional investment correlates with endorsing partisan political misinformation. Additionally, individuals experience increased feelings of validation when they accept misinformation that aligns with their beliefs or deny misinformation that opposes them.

Correlation Between Cognitive and Emotional Factors and Endorsement of Political Misinformation

Sanchez & Dunning (2021) conducted two experiments. Study 1 was carried out to determine if cognitive and/or emotional variables played a role in people believing partisan misbeliefs. Based on the results of Study 1, Study 2 was conducted to research how personal feelings of dissonance and validation are factors of endorsing political misinformation.

Saint Louis University

People are more likely to believe misinformation that favors their political opinions or worldviews while rejecting misinformation that challenges them. Reasoning for this primarily stems from two perspectives: cognitive and emotional. 

Reasons for Endorsing Political Misinformation

Sanchez, C., & Dunning, D. (2021). Cognitive and Emotional Correlates of Belief in Political Misinformation: Who Endorses Partisan Misbeliefs?. Emotion. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000948

Cognitive and Emotional Correlates of Belief in Political Misinformation: Who Endorses Partisan Beliefs?

Because higher cognitive abilities entail higher critical thinking skills, people are more prone to reject political misinformation, whether that misinformation aligns with their personal beliefs or not. Conversely, people exhibiting lower cognitive skills are more likely to endorse political misinformation, especially misbeliefs that are suited to their personal worldview. 

Cognitive Account

From an emotional perspective, those who are more emotionally invested to politics (specifically, to a certain political party) face a greater likelihood of endorsing partisan political misinformation. 

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