Vulnerability to Online Political Misinformation: The Role of Non-clinical Schizotypal Traits
type: CreativeWork
description: While rumours, lies, and propaganda are nothing new, the rise of online misinformation brings with it new challenges and concerns. Online misinformation has become particularly problematic due to its global reach and the incredible speed at which it can spread. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the propagation of online misinformation often results from the actions of regular social media users who encounter such content organically and choose to engage with it (i.e., interact via online behaviours such as commenting, “liking”, and sharing). As with any viral content hosted on social media platforms, misinformation that attracts sufficient user engagement is algorithmically promoted to others, further increasing its spread and exposing more individuals to false information. Therefore, the most concerning online misinformation is characterised not only by an ability to deceive its audience, but also an ability to entice engagement behaviour from social media users. This doctoral project aimed to explore individual differences as predictors of vulnerability to online misinformation. Drawing upon cognitive theories of misinformation vulnerability and established research into individual differences associated with receptivity to socio-political conspiracy theories, the current project sought to explore schizotypal personality traits as potential predictors of belief and engagement toward online political misinformation. The project also sought to investigate the potential significance of specific cognitive biases associated with schizotypal cognition that might serve to facilitate this hypothesised relationship, as well as other dispositional traits related to schizotypy (e.g., nonclinical autism-like traits, the need for cognitive closure, and the expression of a conspiratorial worldview). Furthermore, the project also sought to address the potential moderating effects of schizotypal traits on established intervention techniques designed to reduce individual rec…
abstract: While rumours, lies, and propaganda are nothing new, the rise of online misinformation brings with it new challenges and concerns. Online misinformation has become particularly problematic due to its global reach and the incredible speed at which it can spread. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the propagation of online misinformation often results from the actions of regular social media users who encounter such content organically and choose to engage with it (i.e., interact via online behaviours such as commenting, “liking”, and sharing). As with any viral content hosted on social media platforms, misinformation that attracts sufficient user engagement is algorithmically promoted to others, further increasing its spread and exposing more individuals to false information. Therefore, the most concerning online misinformation is characterised not only by an ability to deceive its audience, but also an ability to entice engagement behaviour from social media users. This doctoral project aimed to explore individual differences as predictors of vulnerability to online misinformation. Drawing upon cognitive theories of misinformation vulnerability and established research into individual differences associated with receptivity to socio-political conspiracy theories, the current project sought to explore schizotypal personality traits as potential predictors of belief and engagement toward online political misinformation. The project also sought to investigate the potential significance of specific cognitive biases associated with schizotypal cognition that might serve to facilitate this hypothesised relationship, as well as other dispositional traits related to schizotypy (e.g., nonclinical autism-like traits, the need for cognitive closure, and the expression of a conspiratorial worldview). Furthermore, the project also sought to address the potential moderating effects of schizotypal traits on established intervention techniques designed to reduce individual rec…
author: Kempley, James
date published: 2025
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:01:07Z
provider: University of Westminster
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Westminster

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.34737/wyy68