School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
School of Psychology, Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
Memory. 2021 May;29(5):587-604. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2021.1923754. Epub 2021 May 10.
Exposure to fake news stories can result in false memories for the events portrayed, and this effect can be enhanced if the stories conform to the reader's ideological position. We exposed 1299 UK residents to fabricated news stories about Brexit. 44% of participants reported a false memory for at least one fabricated story, with a higher rate of false memories for stories that reflected poorly on the opposing side. This effect of ideological congruency was somewhat greater among participants who were exposed to a threat to their social identity as a Leave or Remain supporter; however, this moderating effect was only statistically significant in exploratory analyses using a more conservative definition of false memory. Participants with higher cognitive ability and analytical reasoning scores were less susceptible to false memories. Individuals with better knowledge about Brexit showed better discrimination between true and false stories, while self-reported engagement with the Brexit debate was associated with an increased tendency to "remember" any story, regardless of its truth. These results implicate a combination of social and individual factors in the development of false memories from fake news, and suggest that exposure to social identity threats may enhance the polarising effects of fake news.
接触虚假新闻故事可能会导致对所描述事件的错误记忆，如果这些故事符合读者的意识形态立场，这种影响会更加强烈。我们让 1299 名英国居民接触了关于英国脱欧的假新闻故事。44%的参与者报告说，他们对至少一个捏造的故事产生了错误的记忆，而对反映对方不佳的故事产生错误记忆的比例更高。对于那些作为脱欧或留欧支持者的社会身份受到威胁的参与者来说，这种意识形态一致性的影响略大；然而，只有在使用更保守的错误记忆定义进行探索性分析时，这种调节效应才具有统计学意义。认知能力和分析推理能力得分较高的参与者不易产生错误记忆。对英国脱欧有更好了解的人在区分真实和虚假故事方面表现更好，而自我报告的参与英国脱欧辩论与增加“记住”任何故事的倾向有关，而不管其真实性如何。这些结果表明，虚假新闻产生错误记忆的原因是社会和个人因素的结合，并表明接触社会身份威胁可能会增强虚假新闻的极化效应。
