Conservatives are less accurate than liberals at recognizing false climate statements, and disinformation makes conservatives less discerning: Evidence from 12 countries

Tobia Spampatti; Ulf J.J. Hahnel; Tobias Brosch

doi:10.37016/mr-2020-160

Conservatives are less accurate than liberals at recognizing false climate statements, and disinformation makes conservatives less discerning: Evidence from 12 countries

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

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Conservatives are less accurate than liberals at recognizing false climate statements, and disinformation makes conservatives less discerning: Evidence from 12 countries. / Spampatti, Tobia; Hahnel, Ulf J.J.; Brosch, Tobias.
In: Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, Vol. 5, No. 5, 17.10.2024.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Bibtex

@article{d80d662925e54d458c43148cf6d9d895,

title = "Conservatives are less accurate than liberals at recognizing false climate statements, and disinformation makes conservatives less discerning: Evidence from 12 countries",

abstract = "Competing hypotheses exist on how conservative political ideology is associated with susceptibility to misinformation. We performed a secondary analysis of responses from 1,721 participants from twelve countries in a study that investigated the effects of climate disinformation and six psychological interventions to protect participants against such disinformation. Participants were randomized to receiving twenty real climate disinformation statements or to a passive control condition. All participants then evaluated a separate set of true and false climate-related statements in support of or aiming to delay climate action in a truth discernment task. We found that conservative political ideology is selectively associated with increased misidentification of false statements aiming to delay climate action as true. These findings can be explained as a combination of expressive responding, partisanship bias, and motivated reasoning.",

keywords = "Management studies, Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics",

author = "Tobia Spampatti and Hahnel, {Ulf J.J.} and Tobias Brosch",

year = "2024",

month = oct,

day = "17",

doi = "10.37016/mr-2020-160",

language = "English",

volume = "5",

journal = "Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review",

issn = "2766-1652",

publisher = "Harvard Kennedy School",

number = "5",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Conservatives are less accurate than liberals at recognizing false climate statements, and disinformation makes conservatives less discerning

T2 - Evidence from 12 countries

AU - Spampatti, Tobia

AU - Hahnel, Ulf J.J.

AU - Brosch, Tobias

PY - 2024/10/17

Y1 - 2024/10/17

N2 - Competing hypotheses exist on how conservative political ideology is associated with susceptibility to misinformation. We performed a secondary analysis of responses from 1,721 participants from twelve countries in a study that investigated the effects of climate disinformation and six psychological interventions to protect participants against such disinformation. Participants were randomized to receiving twenty real climate disinformation statements or to a passive control condition. All participants then evaluated a separate set of true and false climate-related statements in support of or aiming to delay climate action in a truth discernment task. We found that conservative political ideology is selectively associated with increased misidentification of false statements aiming to delay climate action as true. These findings can be explained as a combination of expressive responding, partisanship bias, and motivated reasoning.

AB - Competing hypotheses exist on how conservative political ideology is associated with susceptibility to misinformation. We performed a secondary analysis of responses from 1,721 participants from twelve countries in a study that investigated the effects of climate disinformation and six psychological interventions to protect participants against such disinformation. Participants were randomized to receiving twenty real climate disinformation statements or to a passive control condition. All participants then evaluated a separate set of true and false climate-related statements in support of or aiming to delay climate action in a truth discernment task. We found that conservative political ideology is selectively associated with increased misidentification of false statements aiming to delay climate action as true. These findings can be explained as a combination of expressive responding, partisanship bias, and motivated reasoning.

KW - Management studies

KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85207845983&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.37016/mr-2020-160

DO - 10.37016/mr-2020-160

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85207845983

VL - 5

JO - Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review

JF - Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review

SN - 2766-1652

IS - 5

ER -

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-160
Final published version

Conservatives are less accurate than liberals at recognizing false climate statements, and disinformation makes conservatives less discerning: Evidence from 12 countries

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Bibtex

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Other publications by the same author(s)

Development and test of a dual-pathway model of personal and community factors driving new energy technology adoption - The case of V2G in three European countries

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Recurrent carbon labels induce bipartisan effects in environmental choices under risk

Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries

Affective Dilemmas: The Impact of Trait Affect and State Emotion on Sustainable Consumption Decisions in a Social Dilemma Task

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