People trust news that matches their political views, even when it's fake

Not long ago, the common belief was that only a subset of media consumers – often less educated and highly biased – would let their political allegiance override the truth. They would believe the news that favors their political inclinations, even if it wasn’t authentic.

Then some intriguing studies emerged which indicated quite the opposite. The research suggested that media consumers across the spectrum value truth over partisanship.

The studies proclaimed that the authenticity of news was more influential than its alignment with a consumer’s political views by more than four times.

However, as we stand on the brink of a national election fraught with misinformation, a fresh study shakes this understanding to its core.

News and political views

The research, led by top psychology scholars at Stanford University, suggests that the masses tend to prioritize partisanship over truth when consuming news.

Quite unexpectedly, this behavioral pattern spans across all political orientations, educational backgrounds, and reasoning capabilities.

Study lead author Michael Schwalbe is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Psychology at the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University.

“We saw an effect of people being more influenced by political alignment than truth,” said Schwalbe.

“We saw it on both political sides and even among people who scored well on a reasoning test. We were a bit surprised to see how widespread this tendency was. People were engaging in a lot of resistance to inconvenient truths.”

Pervasive problem across political parties

The researchers unearthed intriguing ways in which political views and partisanship can impact the analysis of news.

In one measure of bias, people’s beliefs about the impartiality of their political side compared to their rivals were assessed. Ironically, those who were most confident in their side’s neutrality were the most biased.

Furthermore, partisanship seemed to have a more robust effect on processing real news than fake news. People demonstrated a higher propensity to reject true information that challenged their political views and accept false information that supported their ideological stances.

“Everyone thinks it’s the other person who is the problem,” said Geoffrey L. Cohen, the James G. March Professor of Organizational Studies in Education and Business, professor of psychology in H&S, and senior author of the study.

“People say, ‘Not me!’ But it turns out, like with a lot of social psychological research, it’s actually a pretty pervasive problem across political parties and up and down the educational ladder. The problem isn’t just misinformation but the filters of our own mind – perhaps more so.”

News sources and political beliefs

The study is based on research conducted on a sample of the voting-age U.S. population, matched to the demographics of the census. This group included supporters and opponents of former President Donald Trump.

A distinctive aspect of this research is its deviation in methodology from previous studies. According to Cohen, this could be why the findings contradict them. While the other studies used existing news headlines, this research involved fabricated ones.

Also, in prior investigations, subjects could see the news sources, which may have influenced their acceptance or rejection of the information, whereas this study focused on the headlines alone.

The role of headlines

The research team conjured fake headlines like “Trump Beats Grandmaster Chess Champion” and “Trump Attended Private Halloween Gala with Sex Orgies Dressed as the Pope.”

Surprisingly, the experts discovered that Trump’s supporters and opponents were more likely to believe headlines that aligned with their views than to accept true headlines that opposed their beliefs.

The researchers suggest that one contributing factor for this situation is the increased consumption of partisan media.

“We found that the strongest predictors of bias include extreme views of Trump, a one-sided media diet, and belief in the objectivity and lack of bias of a person’s own political side relative to the other side,” Schwalbe said.

Growing concern about news consumption

The findings of this study underscore concerns about news consumption in the 21st century, especially with the advent of social media and the constant availability of political news.

Gaining access to one-sided information has become easier, which can reinforce beliefs in personal objectivity and lead to deepened polarization over time.

Possible paths to improvement

Having identified the problem, the next logical step is to propose interventions. A measure suggested by Cohen, known as “pre-bunking,” involves proactive fact-checking where media sources warn of potential misinformation, or people independently learn to recognize manipulation tactics.

However, Cohen and Schwalbe emphasized that the solution doesn’t solely lie in policy changes focused on fake news; people are also biased in their disbelief of true news.

Accordingly, they highlight the significance of promoting intellectual humility, wherein media consumers acknowledge the fallibility of their minds and learn to question their perceptions.

“There’s still much more to do to understand the problem,” said Schwalbe. So, while this study forms a solid foundation for further exploration, there’s no denying that we’re only at the beginning of this investigative journey.

The study is published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

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