Reliance on emotion promotes belief in fake news

Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications

Table 2 Results of linear mixed-effects analyses for each emotion measured by the PANAS scale, plus interaction with headline political concordance

	Enthusiastic	Interested	Determined	Excited	Inspired	Alert	Active
Fake	0.13^c	0.04^a	0.05^a	0.14^c	0.14^c	0.05^b	0.10^c
Real	0.02	0.03	0.02	0.01	0.004	0.06^b	0.01
Discernment	− 0.10^c	− 0.02	− 0.04	− 0.14^c	− 0.14^c	0.002	− 0.09^c
Fake × concordant	− 0.01	0.01	0.01	− 0.01	− 0.004	− 0.004	− 0.01
Discernment × concordant	− 0.001	− 0.01	0.005	0.003	− 0.01	0.01	0.01

	Strong	Proud	Attentive	Scared	Afraid	Upset	Distressed
Fake	0.09^c	0.10^c	0.01	0.15^c	0.13^c	0.11^c	0.12^c
Real	− 0.003	− 0.03	0.04^a	− 0.02	− 0.03	0.001	− 0.01
Discernment	− 0.10^c	− 0.13^c	0.03	− 0.17^c	− 0.16^c	− 0.11^c	− 0.12^c
Fake × concordant	− 0.002	− 0.03^a	− 0.02	− 0.04^b	− 0.03^a	− 0.03^a	− 0.03^b
Discernment × concordant	0.02	0.03	0.03	0.01	− 0.01	0.01	0.0003

	Jittery	Nervous	Ashamed	Guilty	Irritable	Hostile	Positive	Negative
Fake	0.12^c	0.10^c	0.12^c	0.09^c	0.11^c	0.15^c	0.13^c	0.17^c
Real	− 0.02	− 0.01	− 0.02	− 0.02	− 0.1	− 0.01	0.02	− 0.02
Discernment	− 0.13^c	− 0.11^c	− 0.14^c	− 0.11^c	− 0.12^c	− 0.16^c	− 0.11^c	− 0.19^c
Fake × concordant	− 0.02	− 0.03^a	− 0.03^b	− 0.03^a	− 0.03^b	− 0.03^a	− 0.01	− 0.04^b
Discernment × concordant	0.02	− 0.004	0.001	0.001	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01

Fixed effects in model include PANAS item score, type of news headline, partisanship, and political concordance. Random effects in model include by-item random slopes for the interaction between PANAS item score, concordance, and political party, and by-participant random slopes for the interaction between type of headline and concordance
^ap < 0.05
^bp < 0.01
^cp < 0.001