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True or false? Linguistic and demographic factors influence veracity judgment of COVID-19 rumors

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  • Cun Fu

    (Chongqing University)

  • Jinru Zhang

    (Chongqing University
    Chongqing University)

  • Xin Kang

    (Chongqing University
    Chongqing University)

Abstract

Rumors about COVID-19 have been prevalent around the world during the pandemic. Using a veracity judgment task, the present study investigates whether young adults (N = 112) demonstrated measurable differences in processing COVID-19 rumors during the pandemic. They were instructed to read a statement related to COVID-19 and then to evaluate whether it was true or false. We examine the influence of the content characteristics of the statement and the demographic variables on the reading times, the accuracy rates, and the response times of the veracity judgment. We found that the reading times of rumors were only influenced by the length of rumors. Participants spent more time reading a rumor when it was longer. The length of rumors also influenced the accuracy rates of the veracity judgment. Participants were less accurate when the rumor was longer. Furthermore, we found that participants were faster at correctly rejecting false rumors than at accepting true rumors. Importantly, we found a significant effect of family socioeconomic status (SES) on the accuracy rates for which participants from families with higher SES had higher accuracy rates of veracity judgment. Our results demonstrated that both content characteristics (i.e., length) and demographic variables (i.e., family SES) influenced the veracity judgment of COVID-19 rumors.

Suggested Citation

  • Cun Fu & Jinru Zhang & Xin Kang, 2024. "True or false? Linguistic and demographic factors influence veracity judgment of COVID-19 rumors," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-02935-4
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-02935-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sahil Loomba & Alexandre Figueiredo & Simon J. Piatek & Kristen Graaf & Heidi J. Larson, 2021. "Measuring the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on vaccination intent in the UK and USA," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(3), pages 337-348, March.
    2. Steve Rathje & Jon Roozenbeek & Jay J. Bavel & Sander Linden, 2023. "Accuracy and social motivations shape judgements of (mis)information," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(6), pages 892-903, June.
    3. Serveh Lotfi & Mitra Mirzarezaee & Mehdi Hosseinzadeh & Vahid Seydi, 2021. "Rumor conversations detection in twitter through extraction of structural features," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 265-279, December.
    4. Jon Roozenbeek & Sander Linden, 2019. "Fake news game confers psychological resistance against online misinformation," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Santosh Vijaykumar & Yan Jin & Daniel Rogerson & Xuerong Lu & Swati Sharma & Anna Maughan & Bianca Fadel & Mariella Silva Oliveira Costa & Claudia Pagliari & Daniel Morris, 2021. "How shades of truth and age affect responses to COVID-19 (Mis)information: randomized survey experiment among WhatsApp users in UK and Brazil," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
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