Can that be True or is it Just Fake News? New perspectives on the negativity bias in judgments of truth

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss the negativity bias in judgments of truth. This bias pertains to the finding that negatively compared to positively framed but content-wise identical statements are more likely to be judged as true. Deep-diving into the concept of the negativity bias, we speculate about potential moderators of the negativity bias that may critically impact individuals' tendency to believe a certain framing to be true. More specifically, we present current findings on (1) expectations in regards to the frequency of occurrence of the facts mentioned in the statements, (2) the source of the negativity, more specifically concept valence versus negation as a driver of the effect, and (3) psychological distance or individuals' construal level. All of these factors might critically impact whether or not individuals are likely to show a negativity bias in judgments of truth. We highlight why it is important in post-truth times to better understand how individuals come to make their judgments of truth. Furthermore, we conclude that insights into the malleability of truth judgments and how slight adjustments in the framing, content, or semantics of information impact evaluations are important to know for both those who intend to bias and those who intend to debias