Kwek Adrian, Peh Luke, Tan Josef, Lee Jin Xing
College of Interdisciplinary and Experiential Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore, Singapore.
School of Science and Technology, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore, Singapore.
Humanit Soc Sci Commun. 2023;10(1):319. doi: 10.1057/s41599-023-01813-9. Epub 2023 Jun 12.
Analytical thinking safeguards us against believing or spreading fake news. In various forms, this common assumption has been reported, investigated, or implemented in fake news education programs. Some have associated this assumption with the inverse claim, that distractions from analytical thinking may render us vulnerable to believing or spreading fake news. This paper surveys the research done between 2016 and 2022 on psychological factors influencing one's susceptibility to believing or spreading fake news, considers which of the psychological factors are plausible distractors to one's exercise of analytical thinking, and discusses some implications of considering them as distractors to analytical thinking. From these, the paper draws five conclusions: (1) It is not analytical thinking per se, but analytical thinking directed to evaluating the truth that safeguards us from believing or spreading fake news. (2) While psychological factors can distract us from exercising analytical thinking and they can also distract us in exercising analytical thinking. (3) Whether a psychological factor functions as a distractor from analytical thinking or in analytical thinking may depend on contextual factors. (4) Measurements of analytical thinking may not indicate vulnerability to believing or spreading fake news. (5) The relevance of motivated reasoning to our tendency to believe fake news should not yet be dismissed. These findings may be useful to guide future research in the intersection of analytical thinking and susceptibility to believing or spreading fake news.
批判性思维能保护我们避免相信或传播虚假新闻。以各种形式呈现的这一普遍假设，已在虚假新闻教育项目中被报道、研究或实施。一些人将这一假设与相反的观点联系起来，即批判性思维的干扰可能使我们容易相信或传播虚假新闻。本文综述了2016年至2022年间关于影响人们相信或传播虚假新闻易感性的心理因素的研究，思考了哪些心理因素可能是批判性思维运用的合理干扰因素，并讨论了将它们视为批判性思维干扰因素的一些影响。基于这些，本文得出五个结论：（1）保护我们避免相信或传播虚假新闻的并非批判性思维本身，而是旨在评估真相的批判性思维。（2）虽然心理因素会干扰我们运用批判性思维，而且它们也会在我们运用批判性思维时产生干扰。（3）一种心理因素是作为批判性思维的干扰因素还是在批判性思维过程中起作用，可能取决于情境因素。（4）批判性思维的测量可能无法表明易相信或传播虚假新闻的程度。（5）动机性推理与我们相信虚假新闻倾向的相关性不应被忽视。这些发现可能有助于指导未来在批判性思维与相信或传播虚假新闻易感性交叉领域的研究。
