Psychosocial predictors of fake news exposure and diffusion in Costa Rica

Abstract

| This study examines the psychosocial and sociodemographic predictors of exposure, self-perceivedcapacitytorecognizeanddiffusionoffakenewsamongCostaRican adults. AsurveywasconductedinMay2019, witharepresentativesampleof805CostaRican adults owners of mobile phones, with 67% women and a mean age of 38.83 (SD= 15.75). A randomstratifiedsamplingmethodwasused. Fromanattitudinalperspective, resultsshow a positive association between right-wing authoritarianism and the intentional diffusion of fake news in social media. From a motivational perspective, positive associations were foundbetweenadefensivemotivationandfakenewsexposurein journalisticmediaandvia WhatsApp, as well as associations between defensive and accuracy motivations with the self-perceivedcapacitytorecognize fakenews. Finally, women, peoplewithhighereducation, and those with younger age were more exposed to fake news, while men and people with higher education perceived themselves as more capable to identify fake news.