Abstract: "This thesis examines how the tendency to fall for – and spread – misinformation is related to, first and foremost, (1) epistemic beliefs about the nature of truth (particularly belief in truth relativism) and (2) political identity (are leftists and rightists (un)-equally as receptive to misinformation?), but also (3) politically motivated reasoning (the tendency to interpret information in ways that favor one’s ideological preferences) and (4) analytical thinking (whether someone tends to be reflective as opposed jump to conclusions). In the three papers of this thesis, we examined the relation between these predictors and the tendency to fall for and/or spread misinformation within one or more of the following four categories: conspiracy theories, pseudo-profound bullshit (nonsensical sentences), science misinformation, and logical fallacies.
In Paper I, we investigated individuals’ ability to evaluate political arguments and found that the tendency to fall for logical fallacies, and the occurrence of politically motivated reasoning in terms of belief bias (judging a logically invalid argument as valid because of the believability or familiarity of its conclusion), were similarly distributed across the left-right spectrum. Analytical thinking overall predicted better ability to evaluate logical fallacies among both leftists and rightists, and seemed to help at least rightists avoid belief bias. In Paper II, we created a measure of belief in truth relativism and disentangled two distinct forms of belief in truth relativism: belief in subjectivist truth relativism (truth is relative to subjective experience) and belief in cultural truth relativism (truth is relative to cultural context). Belief in subjectivist truth relativism predicted receptivity to both pseudo-profound bullshit and conspiracy theories. Rightists were more likely (than leftists) to believe in conspiracy theories. In Paper III, we examined if belief in subjectivist truth relativism causes the tendency to fall for and spread misinformation. In an experiment, we attempted to activate (1) subjectivist and (2) realist beliefs about truth (in belief in truth realism, a statement is true only if it accurately describes reality which exists independently of human perspective) but could not draw any conclusions from its null results as the belief activation failed. However, belief in subjectivist truth relativism did predict receptivity to both pseudo-profound bullshit and conspiracy theories, and rightists were more likely (than leftists) to believe in conspiracy theories. The tendency to spread science misinformation was positively associated with belief in subjectivist truth relativism and rightist ideology, while it was negatively associated with belief in truth realism."
bikenaga•1mo ago
In Paper I, we investigated individuals’ ability to evaluate political arguments and found that the tendency to fall for logical fallacies, and the occurrence of politically motivated reasoning in terms of belief bias (judging a logically invalid argument as valid because of the believability or familiarity of its conclusion), were similarly distributed across the left-right spectrum. Analytical thinking overall predicted better ability to evaluate logical fallacies among both leftists and rightists, and seemed to help at least rightists avoid belief bias. In Paper II, we created a measure of belief in truth relativism and disentangled two distinct forms of belief in truth relativism: belief in subjectivist truth relativism (truth is relative to subjective experience) and belief in cultural truth relativism (truth is relative to cultural context). Belief in subjectivist truth relativism predicted receptivity to both pseudo-profound bullshit and conspiracy theories. Rightists were more likely (than leftists) to believe in conspiracy theories. In Paper III, we examined if belief in subjectivist truth relativism causes the tendency to fall for and spread misinformation. In an experiment, we attempted to activate (1) subjectivist and (2) realist beliefs about truth (in belief in truth realism, a statement is true only if it accurately describes reality which exists independently of human perspective) but could not draw any conclusions from its null results as the belief activation failed. However, belief in subjectivist truth relativism did predict receptivity to both pseudo-profound bullshit and conspiracy theories, and rightists were more likely (than leftists) to believe in conspiracy theories. The tendency to spread science misinformation was positively associated with belief in subjectivist truth relativism and rightist ideology, while it was negatively associated with belief in truth realism."
PhysOrg article: https://phys.org/news/2025-12-political-greater-falling-cons...