Development and validation of the Misinformation Susceptibility Self-Report (MiSS)

The ability to discern between true and false information is a skill that varies between individuals. As such, an accurate measure of self-reported individual susceptibility to misinformation is crucial for both research and intervention development. While discernment-based instruments currently exist, there is a lack of effective and generalizable tools with good psychometric properties that capture the factors which drive susceptibility. To address this, we developed and validated the 15-item Misinformation Susceptibility Self-Report (MiSS) using a political headline discernment task. The MiSS was found to display good internal consistency as well as strong predictive validity (r = 0.52–.64) as measured using the Misinformation Susceptibility Test (MIST-20; Maertens et al., 2024), and a political and health claim discernment task. An assessment of the factor structure and test information characteristics also revealed the ability of the MiSS to provide unique insights into attitudes and behaviors underlying susceptibility across levels of misinformation discernment ability. Being the first psychometrically validated self-report scale for assessing individual differences in misinformation susceptibility, the MiSS presents a number of novel opportunities for advancing theoretical understanding, and has the potential to become an invaluable tool for the development of targeted misinformation interventions.