Anxiety and the Effectiveness of Misinformation Fact-Checks

Abstract

As levels of misinformation rise in the United States, so does the threat to efficient and effective policy-making. Most Americans are subject to misinformation, causing them to actively think/behave against the recommendations and empirical findings of experts. That said, in the absence of misinformation fact-checks and the presence of individual defiance toward corrective information, a variety of problems have been fostered within our borders (e.g., events like Pizzagate and conspiracies about Covid-19). Anxiety may be a factor contributing to this phenomenon, but it has been largely overlooked in previous research. Building off existing scholarship surrounding these variables, I conducted an online survey experiment to test the relationship between anxiety and fact-checks on individual perceptions. After analyzing my results, I found increased levels of anxiety and the presence of fact-checks do not have a significant effect on an individual’s perception about the Covid-19 vaccine. However, anxiety itself has a negative and significant impact on an individual’s perception about the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccine.