Exposure to Higher Rates of False News Erodes Media Trust and Fuels Overconfidence

Abstract

In two online experiments (N = 2,735), we investigated whether forced exposure to high proportions of false news could have deleterious effects by sowing confusion and fueling distrust in news. In a between-subjects design where U.S. participants rated the accuracy of true and false news, we manipulated the proportions of false news headlines participants were exposed to (17%, 33%, 50%, 66%, and 83%). We found that exposure to higher proportions of false news decreased trust in the news but did not affect participants’ perceived accuracy of news headlines. While higher proportions of false news had no effect on participants’ overall ability to discern between true and false news, they made participants more overconfident in their discernment ability. Therefore, exposure to false news may have deleterious effects not by increasing belief in falsehoods, but by fueling overconfidence and eroding trust in the news. Although we are only able to shed light on one causal pathway, from news environment to attitudes, this can help us better understand the effects of external or supply-side changes in news quality.