Study shows: "Dark personality traits" make people vulnerable to fake news

Created: 10/21/2022 15:06

By: Isabelle Jentzsch

A study has shown that people with a "dark personality" are particularly likely to believe in fake news.

(Iconic image) © picture alliance/dpa/Marijan Murat

People with “dark personality traits” are particularly likely to believe fake news.

This was shown by a study by the University of Würzburg.

Würzburg – The term “fake news” has become increasingly popular in recent years.

It was often used, especially in relation to the US elections and the corona pandemic.

The aim of fake news is to spread manipulative false reports in order to negatively influence people.

A study by the University of Würzburg has now shown that belief in fake news is also related to personality.

People with so-called "dark personality traits" particularly often deny the existence of facts and, as a result, also believe in fake news.

"Some people believe fake news, even when the scientific facts clearly speak against it," explains psychologist and leader of the study, Jan Philipp Rudloff.

Study: Relationship between personality traits and fake news

The researchers at the Institute for Human-Computer-Media at the University of Würzburg interviewed more than 600 people from the USA for their study.

During the survey, the participants were confronted with various short messages, the truthfulness of which they were then asked to assess.

The evaluation showed that the less the participants believed in the existence of facts, the more difficult it was for them to distinguish between true and false statements.

The study also asked how important it was for the test subjects to assert their own interests, even at the expense of others.

Psychologists refer to this trait as the “dark factor of personality.”

It is at the core of dark personality traits such as psychopathy, narcissism, or Machiavellianism.

The results were clear.

The “darker” the personality of the participants surveyed, the more pronounced their selfishness at the expense of others and the more they doubted that there was a difference between scientific knowledge and mere opinions.

People with “dark personalities” are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories

Rudloff describes the beliefs of these people as "post-factual".

They have trouble distinguishing what is true from what is false, because they “mainly believe what feels true to them,” explains the scientist.

This is why these people very often believe fake news to be true.

Rudloff found in another study back in spring 2022 that people with dark personalities were more likely to cling to conspiracy theories during the pandemic.

These people bend reality to suit them.

"For example: I don't wear a mask because the corona virus is only an invention of the media anyway," explains the scientist.