Individual differences in sharing false political information on social media: Direct and indirect effects of cognitive-perceptual schizotypy and psychopathy

• Published in: Personality and individual differences Vol. 182; p. 111071
• Main Authors: Buchanan, Tom, Kempley, James
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Agreeableness; Antisocial personality disorder; Cognitive reflection; Demography; Disinformation; Fake news; Indirect effects; Individual differences; Misinformation; Personality; Psychopathy; Schizotypal personality; Schizotypy; Social media; Social networks; Misinformation; Disinformation; Schizotypy; Cognitive reflection; Social media; Personality; Psychopathy; Fake news
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.111071

False political material is widely spread on social media, presenting significant problems for society. Much of this spread arises from the actions of individual social media users. This paper examines individual differences associated with participants' reports of having shared false material online. In two online studies with adult US residents drawn from a research panel (N = 507, N = 527), we tested the relationship of cognitive reflection (CRT-2), agreeableness (BFI-2), psychopathy (SD3), schizotypy (SPQ-BRU), and demographic characteristics with self-reports of having shared material later discovered to be false, and material known to be false at the time. Cognitive reflection was not associated with self-reported sharing, and neither were agreeableness, age, gender, education, or level of social media use once other related variables were controlled for. Across both studies, cognitive-perceptual schizotypy had a direct effect on both types of sharing, with higher scorers reporting more sharing of false material. Psychopathy had an indirect positive effect on both types of sharing, mediated by general tendency to share political material online. •People often share false political information on social media.•Cognitive-perceptual schizotypy directly predicted sharing false information.•Psychopathy indirectly predicted sharing false information.