APOSS 103 - Greg Chih-Hsin Sheen
Affiliation
Department of Political Science, National Cheng Kung University
Date
May 30, 2023 8-9PM EDT
Discussants
Screenshot
Coauthors and affiliations
Myunghoon Kang, Department of Political Science and Diplomacy, Myongji University
Keywords
misinformation, disinformation, survey experiment, nuclear policy, Korea
Abstract
While many studies assume that individuals spread misinformation due to their mistaken beliefs, it is possible that they intentionally share disinformation, regardless of whether they believe it to be true or not. We investigate whether partisan motivations drive individuals to share disinformation by conducting a survey experiment in South Korea. We focus on the impact of partisan motivations on individuals' intentions to share false information while controlling their beliefs, in order to distinguish sharing intentions driven by mis- and disinformation. Our findings show that individuals' intentions to share false information are associated with their beliefs, indicating potential misinformation sharing. Furthermore, we found that partisan motivations hinder the correction of mistaken beliefs. However, we found no evidence that partisan motivations drive individuals to share disinformation. We conclude that partisan motivations exacerbate the spread of false information by obstructing the formation of correct beliefs, rather than by disconnecting behaviors from beliefs.
Status
Registration link
Title
Spreading Misinformation or Disinformation?: A Survey Experiment in South Korea