Personal Network Composition and Cognitive Reflection Predict Susceptibility to Different Types of Misinformation

Despite a rapid increase in research on the underpinnings of misinformation susceptibility, scholars still disagree about the relative impacts of social context and individual cognitive factors. We argue that cognitive reflection and identity-based network homogeneity may have unique influences on different types of misinformation. Specifically, identity-based network homogeneity predicts bias that is related to any type of identity-based information (i.e., political rumors), and cognitive reflection is more tailored toward truth discernment (i.e., fake news headlines). We conducted our study using an online sample (N = 214) split evenly between Democrats and Republicans and collected data on personal network composition, cognitive reflection, as well as susceptibility, sentiments, and sharing behavior in relation to political rumors and misinformation, respectively. Results demonstrate that where network homogeneity predicts belief and sharing in both political rumors and fake news headlines, cognitive reflection only predicts belief and sharing of fake news headlines. Social vs. cognitive factors for predicting different types of misinformation are discussed.