The Psychology Behind Fake News Why Some People Are More Likely To

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 5, 2025, 7:38 AM

the psychology behind fake news why some people are more likely to

Auteur correspondant. Service de rhumatologie, hôpital Saint-Antoine, Sorbonne université. AP–HP, 184, rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, 75012 Paris, France. Accepted 2022 Feb 22; Issue date 2022 Jul. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website.

Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories,... These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. Fake news dissemination has increased greatly in recent years, with peaks during the US presidential elections and the COVID-19 pandemic. Research has addressed fake news creation, consumption, sharing, and detection as well as approaches to counteract it and prevent people from believing it. This update addresses only a part of the fake news-related issues and focuses on determinants leading individuals to believe fake news, noting that rheumatology is scarcely represented. Some determinants relate to the ecosystem of media and social networks, such as the availability and rapid spread of fake news, the unselected information on platforms and the fact that consumers can become creators...

Cognitive factors are important, such as confirmation bias, political partisanship, prior exposure and intuitive thinking. Low science knowledge and low educational level are also involved. Psychological factors include attraction to novelty, high emotional state, and the emotionally evocative content of fake news. High digital literacy protects against believing fake news. Sociological factors such as online communities, or echo chambers, and the role of pressure groups have been identified. The implication for practice can be deduced, including education in media literacy and warning tips, reliable journalism and fact-checking, social media regulation, partnership of media platforms’ with fact-checkers, warning messages on networks, and digital...

Health professionals need to better understand the factors that cause individuals to believe fake news. Identifying these determinants may help them in their counseling role when talking to patients about misinformation. Keywords: Fake news, Misinformation, Social networks, Cognitive bias Did you know that 65% of Americans report having been “somewhat” or “completely confident” that a news story was real, only to later discover it was fabricated? The psychology of fake news is more complex than simply blaming gullibility or lack of intelligence. As a practicing clinical psychologist specializing in digital behavior for over fifteen years, I’ve observed how even the most educated and critical thinkers can fall prey to misinformation under the right circumstances.

We’re living in what many experts now call an “infodemic” – where the sheer volume of information, both true and false, makes discerning reality increasingly difficult. In 2023 alone, researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute identified over 8,900 websites specifically designed to mimic legitimate news sources while spreading demonstrably false information. This digital landscape presents unprecedented challenges to our cognitive systems that evolved in much simpler information environments. By the end of this article, you’ll understand the psychological mechanisms that make fake news so persuasive, recognize your own vulnerabilities to misinformation, and learn evidence-based strategies to strengthen your critical thinking skills in... We’ll explore the latest research on how our brains process information, the social dynamics that reinforce belief in falsehoods, and practical techniques you can implement immediately to become more discerning consumers of news. Our brains didn’t evolve to process the tsunami of information we face daily.

The average person encounters the equivalent of 174 newspapers worth of data every single day – a stark contrast to our ancestors’ information environment. This mismatch between our cognitive architecture and modern information consumption creates vulnerabilities that fake news exploits with remarkable efficiency. Have you ever wondered why it’s so much easier to believe something that “feels right” than to question it critically? This tendency stems from what psychologists call cognitive miserliness – our brain’s natural inclination to conserve mental energy whenever possible. Summary: A global study of over 66,000 people reveals that susceptibility to misinformation varies across age, gender, education, and political ideology. Participants took a test to judge whether news headlines were real or fake, and those in Generation Z, women, conservatives, and less-educated individuals were more likely to believe misinformation.

Interestingly, many were accurate in assessing their own limitations—Gen Z and women, in particular, recognized their weaknesses, while those with more education tended to overestimate their skills. These findings highlight the need for targeted media literacy efforts and proactive policies to combat the spread of fake news. A global study of more than 66,000 participants has revealed which groups of people are most susceptible to misinformation. Study participants assessed news headlines and tried to judge whether they were real or fake. On average, people had a harder time distinguishing between real and fake if they were: However, some groups were more self-aware than others about their shortcomings in spotting misinformation.

“All of us can fall for misinformation,” Nadia Brashier told the Washington Post. “I’ve fallen for false stories myself even though this is what I study.” Brashier is an assistant professor of psychology in the School of Social Sciences. She joined UC San Diego in 2023 after earning her PhD from Duke University and completing a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard. Brashier explores how people come to believe things that are untrue, including superstitions, conspiracy theories and of course, fake news. When we’re online, Brashier says, we often pay attention to the most eye-catching content, regardless of whether it is actually true.

Redirecting our attention towards accuracy can help protect us from misinformation. Brashier sat down with UC San Diego Today to discuss why we believe fake news and what – in this era of artificial intelligence and political polarization – we can do about it. When we scroll through our feeds on social media, we are not always thinking about truth. Even when we do explicitly evaluate veracity, we often go with our guts. Fake news, the deliberate spread of misinformation, has become a pervasive issue in the digital age. Understanding the psychology behind why people fall prey to it is crucial for combating its spread and mitigating its harmful effects.

This article delves into the cognitive biases and social factors that make us susceptible to believing and sharing fake news. Our brains are wired with inherent biases that can make us vulnerable to misinformation. One key factor is confirmation bias, our tendency to favor information that confirms pre-existing beliefs and dismiss information that contradicts them. This means we’re more likely to accept a fake news story if it aligns with our worldview, regardless of its factual accuracy. Similarly, availability heuristic plays a role. This cognitive shortcut leads us to believe information that is readily available or easily recalled.

Sensationalized and emotionally charged fake news stories are designed to be memorable, making them seem more credible. The illusory truth effect also contributes. Repeated exposure to false information, even if we initially doubted it, can increase its perceived truthfulness. This is compounded by the echo chambers of social media, where we’re constantly exposed to information reinforcing our existing biases. Finally, source credibility is often misjudged. We may readily accept information from sources we perceive as authoritative, even if they lack genuine expertise or credibility in the given area.

This is particularly effective when fake news is shared by trusted friends and family. The social dynamics of online platforms contribute significantly to the spread of fake news. The desire for social belonging and validation can lead us to share information that reinforces group identity, even if we have doubts about its veracity. This is particularly true in highly polarized online communities. Furthermore, the fast-paced nature of social media encourages quick sharing without fact-checking. The pressure to be "in the know" and the emotional contagion of viral content can lead to impulsive sharing of fake news.

Moreover, the design of social media platforms themselves, with features like "likes" and "shares," can amplify the visibility of engaging content, regardless of its accuracy. The algorithms that prioritize engagement further exacerbate this issue, creating filter bubbles where users are primarily exposed to information that confirms their existing biases and reinforces the spread of misinformation. Understanding these social influences is vital for developing strategies to combat the spread of fake news and promote critical thinking in the digital age. In an era where information is at our fingertips, distinguishing between fact and fiction has become increasingly challenging. The psychology of misinformation plays a crucial role in understanding why fake news spreads and why people believe it. Despite access to credible sources, misinformation thrives due to cognitive biases, emotional triggers, and social reinforcement.

Misinformation isn’t just a digital-age issue; it has been used throughout history to influence public opinion. However, today’s technology amplifies its spread, making it more difficult to counter. So why do people fall for fake news, and what can we do about it? One of the most significant reasons people believe fake news is confirmation bias—the tendency to seek out and trust information that aligns with existing beliefs. When faced with conflicting information, we naturally favor sources that reinforce our worldview, often disregarding facts that challenge our perspective. For instance, in political debates, individuals are more likely to accept misinformation that supports their preferred candidate, even when credible sources debunk the claims.

Social media algorithms reinforce this bias by curating content based on past interactions, trapping users in echo chambers. Another powerful cognitive bias at play is the illusory truth effect. When we see the same piece of information multiple times, our brains start accepting it as truth, even if it’s false. This is why repeated exposure to fake news on social media platforms makes people more likely to believe it. In the age of digital communication, information flows faster and farther than ever before. Billions of people are connected through social media platforms, news websites, and instant messaging apps, creating an unprecedented global exchange of ideas.

Yet this vast digital landscape has a dark side: the rapid spread of misinformation and fake news. These false or misleading claims can distort public understanding, fuel social and political polarization, and even threaten democratic processes. Understanding why misinformation spreads—and why people believe it—requires an exploration not only of technology but of human psychology itself. The psychology of misinformation and fake news examines the mental processes that shape how individuals perceive, interpret, and remember information. It seeks to explain why falsehoods often feel persuasive, why corrections sometimes fail, and how emotional, cognitive, and social factors drive belief formation. In recent decades, researchers have uncovered a complex interplay of biases, emotions, memory distortions, and social influences that together make misinformation so powerful and resilient.

To comprehend this phenomenon, we must look beyond the surface of digital deception and into the deeper workings of the human mind. The problem of fake news is not merely a technological or political one—it is fundamentally psychological. Misinformation refers to false or inaccurate information that is spread regardless of intent to deceive. Disinformation, by contrast, is intentionally false information designed to mislead or manipulate. Fake news is a particular form of disinformation that mimics the appearance of legitimate journalism while promoting fabricated stories, conspiracy theories, or ideologically biased claims. These concepts overlap but differ in motivation and structure.

The Psychology Behind Fake News Why Some People Are More Likely To

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