Exaggerated feelings of moral superiority” make liberals vulnerable to believing fake news, according to a study which looked at stories relating to Brexit and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Researchers at Nottingham Trent University found liberals and conservatives are equally likely to believe untrue news stories that correspond to their worldview and dismiss factual information that undermines it, but that their reasons for doing so differ.
While right-wingers “followed their gut instinct” in order to judge the veracity of news, high levels of “collective narcissism” — strong belief in the righteousness of their ideology and of others who share it — affected how liberals respond to stories.
Examining the concept of “fake news”, Dr. Craig Harper and Professor Thom Baguley carried out three studies to look at people’s responses to true and invented news articles relating to Trump and Brexit.