The development of media truth discernment and fake news detection is related to the development of reasoning during adolescence

Abstract

Abstract The spread of online fake news is emerging as a major threat to human society and democracy. Previous studies have investigated media truth discernment among adults but not among adolescents. Adolescents might face a greater risk of believing fake news, particularly fake news that is shared via social media, because of their vulnerabilities in terms of reasoning. In the present study, we investigated (1) the development of media truth discernment and the illusory truth effect from adolescence to adulthood and (2) whether the development of media truth discernment and the illusory truth effect are related to the development of reasoning ability. To accomplish this task, we recruited 432 adolescents aged 11 to 14 years as well as 132 adults. Participants were asked to rate the perceived accuracy of both real and fake news headlines. Participants were exposed to half of the news items before entering the rating phase. Finally, participants completed the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT). Media truth discernment (i.e., the difference between participants’ ratings of fake and real news) developed linearly with increasing age, and participants rated familiarized headlines as more accurate than novel headlines at all ages (i.e., the illusory truth effect). Finally, media truth development (but not the illusory truth effect) was related to the development of reasoning abilities with increasing age. Our findings highlight the urgent need to improve logical thinking among adolescents to help them detect fake news online.