THE INFLUENCE OF MIXED EMOTIONS ON NEWS (MIS)INFORMATION BELIEF

Abstract

The role of mixed emotions in influencing fake news beliefs and media truth discernment remains unknown. In our current study (N = 234), we test the integrative perspective of mixed emotions and hypothesize that mixed emotions would enhance discernment of media truth by way of lowering belief in fake news and increasing belief in real news. We utilized a two-way 4 (emotion condition: mixed emotions, positive emotions, negative emotions, neutral) x 2 (news type: real, fake) mixed ANOVA with repeated measures on the news type to examine the interactions of subjects’ emotion condition and news type as they relate to news accuracy rating. This study reveals no evidence for the notion that mixed emotions significantly enhanced media truth discernment compared to positive, negative, and neutral emotions. However, mixed emotions significantly decreased overall belief in news compared to negative emotions in post-hoc analyses. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.