Mathias Osmundsen|Alexander Bor|Peter Bjerregaard Vahlstrup|Anja Bechmann|Michael Bang Petersen
Partisan Polarization Is the Primary Psychological Motivation behind Political Fake News Sharing on Twitter
Aarhus University|Aarhus University|Aarhus University|Aarhus University|Aarhus University
abstract rise fake news major concern contemporary western democracies yet research psychological motivations behind spread political fake news social media surprisingly limited citizens share fake news ignorant lazy fueled sinister motives seeking disrupt social status quo seek attack partisan opponents increasingly polarized political environment article first test competing hypotheses based careful mapping psychological profiles 2300 american twitter users linked behavioral sharing data sentiment analyses 500000 news story headlines findings contradict ignorance perspective provide support disruption perspective strong support partisan polarization perspective thus individuals report hating political opponents likely share political fake news selectively share content useful derogating opponents overall findings show fake news sharing fueled psychological motivations drive forms partisan behavior including sharing partisan news traditional credible news sources