May 3, 2022 03:28 PM
Aging and fake news: It's not the story you think it is
https://news.ufl.edu/2022/05/aging-adults-fake-news/
RELEASE: Not being able to distinguish fake news from real news can have serious consequences for a person's physical, emotional and financial well-being -- especially for older adults, who in general have more financial assets and must make more high-stakes health decisions. So how good are older adults at detecting fake news?
A new study has found that older adults are no more likely to fall for fake news than younger adults, with age-related susceptibility to deceptive news evident only among those categorized as the "oldest old." The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Florida (UF) and the University of Central Florida during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, was published May 2 online by the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.
The research is the first to delineate the role of analytical reasoning, affect and news consumption frequency on detection of fake news in older adults across a broad age range as well as in direct comparison to young adults. "We wanted to see if there was an age difference in determining whether news is true versus false," said Didem Pehlivanoglu, lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at UF. "We specifically wanted to look at this because we know that with aging most people show some decline in their cognitive abilities. But we also know some information processing abilities are preserved or even improved."
The research is scant regarding older adults' susceptibility to fake news and what factors might aid or impair a person's ability to judge the veracity of information. Raising concern, some previous work suggested that older adults shared false information over social media more often than did young adults during the 2016 presidential election. And the dramatic increase in misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened concern, given that the virus has been particularly deadly for older adults.
But is that warranted? "People have this perception that older adults are going to perform worse than young adults across the board but that is not the case," said Brian Cahill, a co-author and psychology professor at UF.
While many people show cognitive decline as they age, it is also true that with age comes a broader knowledge base, more life experience and, often, more positive affect. As a group, older adults also tend to consume more news than younger adults. These factors may filter and contextualize information processing in older adults.
The researchers set out to explore age differences in the ability to identify fake news and how analytical reasoning, affect and news consumption frequency effected that ability. The study was conducted between May and October of 2020; the older adults ranged in age from 61 to 87 years and the younger adults were college students.
In the study, participants read and evaluated 12 full-length news articles about COVID and non-COVID topics, with six real and six fake stories in each category. After reading an article, participants were asked such questions as whether the article was real or fake and how confident they were in their decision.
The researchers then measured the participants' analytical reasoning skills, affect and news consumption frequency.
They found that the ability to detect fake news was comparable between young and older adults. Determining an article was fake was related to individual differences in analytical reasoning skills for both age groups. Also, both young and older adults showed a lower ability to detect fake COVID news compared to everyday fake news, which may reflect low familiarity with information related to COVID at the beginning of the pandemic.
Importantly, however, the more elderly older adults -- that is those individuals age 70 years or older -- showed a reduced ability to detect fake news, whether about COVID or another topic, and that decreased ability was associated with levels of analytical reasoning, affect and news consumption frequency.
Adults in the 70+ age group who had greater positive affect and who frequently consumed news were most likely to engage in "shallow" information processing, including not looking as closely at information or paying attention to details. It may only be in very late old age, at a time in life when declines in cognitive abilities cannot be compensated for anymore by gains in life experience and world knowledge that individuals become particularly vulnerable to deception via misinformation and fake news, the researchers said in the study.
"It is a particularly high-risk population with high stakes for wrong decision making, not just for themselves but also for society at large," said Natalie Ebner, a co-author and psychology professor at UF. The findings have the potential to influence design of decision-supportive interventions to enhance news communication and reduce misinformation across the lifespan and in aging, the team said.
The psychology of populism: why are Europe and the West moving to the right?
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/psychologylse/20...the-right/
EXCERPTS: : Populism is on the rise in many contemporary societies, disrupting the public discourse and putting the democratic model to the test. While populist movements span across the left-right political spectrum, Europe and the West, in particular, are witnessing a growing electoral success of anti-pluralist, anti-democratic parties on the far-right. What is fuelling this demand? In an attempt to answer this question, the present article will explore reasons for the gradual erosion of social cohesion in Western societies, its structural and psychological underpinnings as well as its political consequences. Understanding intergroup relations as products of the current socio-political and economic systems and people’s inherent psychological need for status and belonging is key in understanding the appeal of populist movements.
Although rarely mentioned by name, neoliberalism has been the dominant form of organising life in Europe and the West for decades. Much more than an economic theory, neoliberalism can be best described as a policy model and ideological conviction which prioritises the pursuit of economic growth, encourages the transnational movement of people, capital, goods and services by means of globalisation and opposes state intervention and market regulation (Navarro, 2007). In lay terms it means “bigger, better, faster, stronger” and it is how we have come to understand ourselves and the world.
The neoliberal agenda continues to promise prosperity for all. However, although unprecedented levels of prosperity have been achieved, the distribution of this wealth has been inherently uneven within and between nations (Chancel et al., 2021). [...] Within neoliberal societies in which a person’s value and level of integration is dictated by their purchasing power and human relations are governed by norms of individualism and competition, the described are not simply “economic issues”. Rather, neoliberal policies, mechanisms and norms create an environment in which those at the bottom of the income distribution are commonly stigmatised and blamed for their own deprivation (Littler, 2013). Neoliberalism divides us: economically, politically, and socially.
In societies that so clearly distinguish between winners and losers within the economic, political, and social spheres, there is little trust and cohesion between social groups. Psychologically, this provides a breeding ground for populist, anti-establishment sentiment, rooted in an unsatiated need for status and belonging – particularly within the “loosing” demographic.
[...] If we take a look at the votership of right-wing populist parties in Europe and the West, young and old, low-income individuals are often overrepresented – i.e. those with weaker integration into the job market and weaker social ties ... Research has shown that perceptions of relative deprivation and societal decline are associated with extreme political discontent and an increased likelihood of supporting anti-establishment movements ... But specifically within regions that have been adversely affected by trade shocks, levels of extreme political discontent and political cynicism are disproportionately high ... Higher levels of xenophobia, less overall political participation but the higher chance of supporting parties on the far right observed in those at the bottom of the distribution pyramid, have been discussed to stem from lower levels of social integration, higher reliance on welfare services as well as the belief that resources have to be competed for with outgroups...
The relative deprivation of one’s group compared to others and the zero-sum notion that other groups profit from its detriment binds group members closer together and causes individuals’ ideological beliefs or group-enforced values to become more pronounced. This alleviates the strain of perceived status and identity threats ... Populist leaders tend to capitalize off of the marginalization and social exclusion of the poor by framing economic grievances as severe injustices towards them (i.e. the “pure” people), thereby offering these underprivileged groups a positive social identity ... Moreover, populist leaders will often promote the application of violent, dominance-based strategies for status-acquisition, which their subjects are more prone to adopt when prestige-based pathways to status are unlikely to be successful..
There certainly are individual differences that may help explain and predict whether a person’s relatively low societal status may elicit populist sentiment and translate into the support of parties on either side of the two political extremes. ... While it is not exclusively young and old, low-income individuals who support right-wing leaders, it is evident that the current societal model fails a comparatively large proportion of its citizens. Understanding why this makes this demographic more and more vulnerable to different forms of political radicalisation – whether at the polls or on the street – is crucial in addressing the growing popularity of right-wing parties in Europe and the West.
Fighting populism must start with the underlying issue of the systemic nature of economic grievances and social exclusion within neoliberal societies. True democracy is only feasible and sustainable when all citizens are able and feel compelled to participate in society’s mainstream institutions. When society is not divided in winners and losers. When all people feel like they belong instead of being merely tolerated based on the economic value that is ascribed to them... (MORE - missing details)
https://news.ufl.edu/2022/05/aging-adults-fake-news/
RELEASE: Not being able to distinguish fake news from real news can have serious consequences for a person's physical, emotional and financial well-being -- especially for older adults, who in general have more financial assets and must make more high-stakes health decisions. So how good are older adults at detecting fake news?
A new study has found that older adults are no more likely to fall for fake news than younger adults, with age-related susceptibility to deceptive news evident only among those categorized as the "oldest old." The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Florida (UF) and the University of Central Florida during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, was published May 2 online by the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.
The research is the first to delineate the role of analytical reasoning, affect and news consumption frequency on detection of fake news in older adults across a broad age range as well as in direct comparison to young adults. "We wanted to see if there was an age difference in determining whether news is true versus false," said Didem Pehlivanoglu, lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at UF. "We specifically wanted to look at this because we know that with aging most people show some decline in their cognitive abilities. But we also know some information processing abilities are preserved or even improved."
The research is scant regarding older adults' susceptibility to fake news and what factors might aid or impair a person's ability to judge the veracity of information. Raising concern, some previous work suggested that older adults shared false information over social media more often than did young adults during the 2016 presidential election. And the dramatic increase in misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened concern, given that the virus has been particularly deadly for older adults.
But is that warranted? "People have this perception that older adults are going to perform worse than young adults across the board but that is not the case," said Brian Cahill, a co-author and psychology professor at UF.
While many people show cognitive decline as they age, it is also true that with age comes a broader knowledge base, more life experience and, often, more positive affect. As a group, older adults also tend to consume more news than younger adults. These factors may filter and contextualize information processing in older adults.
The researchers set out to explore age differences in the ability to identify fake news and how analytical reasoning, affect and news consumption frequency effected that ability. The study was conducted between May and October of 2020; the older adults ranged in age from 61 to 87 years and the younger adults were college students.
In the study, participants read and evaluated 12 full-length news articles about COVID and non-COVID topics, with six real and six fake stories in each category. After reading an article, participants were asked such questions as whether the article was real or fake and how confident they were in their decision.
The researchers then measured the participants' analytical reasoning skills, affect and news consumption frequency.
They found that the ability to detect fake news was comparable between young and older adults. Determining an article was fake was related to individual differences in analytical reasoning skills for both age groups. Also, both young and older adults showed a lower ability to detect fake COVID news compared to everyday fake news, which may reflect low familiarity with information related to COVID at the beginning of the pandemic.
Importantly, however, the more elderly older adults -- that is those individuals age 70 years or older -- showed a reduced ability to detect fake news, whether about COVID or another topic, and that decreased ability was associated with levels of analytical reasoning, affect and news consumption frequency.
Adults in the 70+ age group who had greater positive affect and who frequently consumed news were most likely to engage in "shallow" information processing, including not looking as closely at information or paying attention to details. It may only be in very late old age, at a time in life when declines in cognitive abilities cannot be compensated for anymore by gains in life experience and world knowledge that individuals become particularly vulnerable to deception via misinformation and fake news, the researchers said in the study.
"It is a particularly high-risk population with high stakes for wrong decision making, not just for themselves but also for society at large," said Natalie Ebner, a co-author and psychology professor at UF. The findings have the potential to influence design of decision-supportive interventions to enhance news communication and reduce misinformation across the lifespan and in aging, the team said.
The psychology of populism: why are Europe and the West moving to the right?
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/psychologylse/20...the-right/
EXCERPTS: : Populism is on the rise in many contemporary societies, disrupting the public discourse and putting the democratic model to the test. While populist movements span across the left-right political spectrum, Europe and the West, in particular, are witnessing a growing electoral success of anti-pluralist, anti-democratic parties on the far-right. What is fuelling this demand? In an attempt to answer this question, the present article will explore reasons for the gradual erosion of social cohesion in Western societies, its structural and psychological underpinnings as well as its political consequences. Understanding intergroup relations as products of the current socio-political and economic systems and people’s inherent psychological need for status and belonging is key in understanding the appeal of populist movements.
Although rarely mentioned by name, neoliberalism has been the dominant form of organising life in Europe and the West for decades. Much more than an economic theory, neoliberalism can be best described as a policy model and ideological conviction which prioritises the pursuit of economic growth, encourages the transnational movement of people, capital, goods and services by means of globalisation and opposes state intervention and market regulation (Navarro, 2007). In lay terms it means “bigger, better, faster, stronger” and it is how we have come to understand ourselves and the world.
The neoliberal agenda continues to promise prosperity for all. However, although unprecedented levels of prosperity have been achieved, the distribution of this wealth has been inherently uneven within and between nations (Chancel et al., 2021). [...] Within neoliberal societies in which a person’s value and level of integration is dictated by their purchasing power and human relations are governed by norms of individualism and competition, the described are not simply “economic issues”. Rather, neoliberal policies, mechanisms and norms create an environment in which those at the bottom of the income distribution are commonly stigmatised and blamed for their own deprivation (Littler, 2013). Neoliberalism divides us: economically, politically, and socially.
In societies that so clearly distinguish between winners and losers within the economic, political, and social spheres, there is little trust and cohesion between social groups. Psychologically, this provides a breeding ground for populist, anti-establishment sentiment, rooted in an unsatiated need for status and belonging – particularly within the “loosing” demographic.
[...] If we take a look at the votership of right-wing populist parties in Europe and the West, young and old, low-income individuals are often overrepresented – i.e. those with weaker integration into the job market and weaker social ties ... Research has shown that perceptions of relative deprivation and societal decline are associated with extreme political discontent and an increased likelihood of supporting anti-establishment movements ... But specifically within regions that have been adversely affected by trade shocks, levels of extreme political discontent and political cynicism are disproportionately high ... Higher levels of xenophobia, less overall political participation but the higher chance of supporting parties on the far right observed in those at the bottom of the distribution pyramid, have been discussed to stem from lower levels of social integration, higher reliance on welfare services as well as the belief that resources have to be competed for with outgroups...
The relative deprivation of one’s group compared to others and the zero-sum notion that other groups profit from its detriment binds group members closer together and causes individuals’ ideological beliefs or group-enforced values to become more pronounced. This alleviates the strain of perceived status and identity threats ... Populist leaders tend to capitalize off of the marginalization and social exclusion of the poor by framing economic grievances as severe injustices towards them (i.e. the “pure” people), thereby offering these underprivileged groups a positive social identity ... Moreover, populist leaders will often promote the application of violent, dominance-based strategies for status-acquisition, which their subjects are more prone to adopt when prestige-based pathways to status are unlikely to be successful..
There certainly are individual differences that may help explain and predict whether a person’s relatively low societal status may elicit populist sentiment and translate into the support of parties on either side of the two political extremes. ... While it is not exclusively young and old, low-income individuals who support right-wing leaders, it is evident that the current societal model fails a comparatively large proportion of its citizens. Understanding why this makes this demographic more and more vulnerable to different forms of political radicalisation – whether at the polls or on the street – is crucial in addressing the growing popularity of right-wing parties in Europe and the West.
Fighting populism must start with the underlying issue of the systemic nature of economic grievances and social exclusion within neoliberal societies. True democracy is only feasible and sustainable when all citizens are able and feel compelled to participate in society’s mainstream institutions. When society is not divided in winners and losers. When all people feel like they belong instead of being merely tolerated based on the economic value that is ascribed to them... (MORE - missing details)