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SHOCKING! College professor reveals hidden secrets of news headlines. Can you guess? Examining the efficacy of clickbait detection training and news literacy

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  • Ben Wasike

Abstract

This study used a survey and an experiment to examine how news literacy and personal locus, which is a competency adjacent to news literacy, affected clickbait detection and engagement with clickbait via clicking, reading, and sharing clickbait headlines and stories. The survey measured the effect of news literacy and the four psychometric personal locus variables (reflective thinking, the tolerance for ambiguity, signal detection, and the drive for information) on detection and engagement with clickbait. The pre- and post-test experiment with a control group measured the effect of clickbait detection training on detection and engagement. Overall, news literacy improved detection and reduced engagement, as did signal detection. Reflective thinking performed likewise via correlation but showed marginal main effects. The tolerance for ambiguity was inversely correlated with engagement, but not with detection, and it only reduced clicking marginally among the individual engagement variables. While the drive for information was not correlated with detection, it increased engagement, thus contradicting extant research. The experiment showed that while clickbait detection training reduced engagement with clickbait, it improved detection only when clickbait headlines were considered, and not when both clickbait and non-clickbait headlines were considered. The author recommends that news literacy training incorporate aspects of personal locus improvement and clickbait detection training.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Wasike, 2026. "SHOCKING! College professor reveals hidden secrets of news headlines. Can you guess? Examining the efficacy of clickbait detection training and news literacy," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 21(11), pages 1-17, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0359401
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0359401
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