There has been a proliferation of fake news stories in the recent times. This study looks into answering the questions of who is most likely to believe such false stories and why. To answer these questions, two online studies with over 900 participants were conducted.
Highlights:
- The studies suggest that delusion-prone and dogmatic individuals were more likely to endorse fabricated stories. This was because of their tendency to engage in less analytic and less actively open-minded thinking.
- These studies also suggest two related forms of thinking that may protect against belief in fake news, open-minded thinking and analytic thinking.