Misperceptions in sociopolitical context: belief sensitivity’s relationship with battleground state status and partisan segregation
Author:
Li Qin1ORCID,
Bond Robert M1,
Garrett R Kelly1ORCID
Affiliation:
1. School of Communication, Ohio State University , Columbus, OH, USA
Abstract
AbstractNumerous studies have shown that individuals’ belief sensitivity—their ability to discriminate between true and false political statements—varies according to psychological and demographic characteristics. We argue that sensitivity also varies with the political and social communication contexts in which they live. Both battleground state status of the state in which individuals live and the level of partisan segregation in a state are associated with Americans’ belief sensitivity. We leverage panel data collected from two samples of Americans, one collected in the first half of 2019 and the other during the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign season. Results indicate that the relationship between living in battleground states and belief sensitivity is contingent on political ideology: living in battleground states, versus in Democratic-leaning states, is associated with lower belief sensitivity among conservatives and higher belief sensitivity among liberals. Moreover, living in a less politically segregated state is associated with greater belief sensitivity. These relationships were only in evidence in the election year.
Funder
2019 Facebook Integrity Foundational Research Awards
Measuring And Modeling Susceptibility To Misinformation
2020 Facebook Integrity Foundational Research Award
Quantifying Downstream Harms Of Misinformation Shared On Social Media During The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election
Ohio State University School of Communication and Northwestern University
Ohio State University
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics,Communication
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