The Cognitive-Affective-Behavioural Structure of Misinformation Resilience

What are the cognitive, affective, and behavioural mechanisms underlying resilience to misinformation? We present a systematic investigation of 102 theoretically informed variables related to misinformation resilience. In three longitudinal experiments with nationally representative quota samples (N1 = 7,196, N2 = 4,040, N3 = 4,606), spanning six countries (US, UK, Australia, India, Kenya, Nigeria), we test these variables across three counter-misinformation interventions (prebunking, cobunking, debunking), two modes of presentation (text-based, video-based), and three topics (GMOs, climate change, cryptocurrencies). We identify 75 constructs as determinants of misinformation resilience that can be represented as a two-level network structure consisting of four second-level resilience clusters, (1) open-minded information seeking, (2) manipulative framing detection, (3) general content engagement, and (4) unbiased framing detection, which in turn encompass 39 first-order clusters. We discuss how these clusters, each consisting of skills, traits, and behaviours, relate to key variables in the literature (e.g., truth discernment), and show that some clusters (e.g., open-minded information seeking) may be more amenable to change by interventions than others (e.g., general content engagement). In addition, the research indicates that more resilient people engage in general less with content of any type. Finally, we show how educators, policymakers, researchers, and product designers can use these insights to guide which measures of misinformation resilience to use when developing and deploying interventions, and to evaluate whether said interventions are successfully improving misinformation resilience.