How Susceptible Are You to Misinformation? There's a Test You Can Take - Scientifc American
By Joanna Thompson on July 5, 2023
Many Americans seem to worry that their parents or grandparents will fall for fake news online. But as it turns out, we may be collectively concerned about the wrong generation.
Contrary to popular belief, Gen Zers and millennials could be more susceptible to online misinformation than older adults, according to a poll published online on June 29 by the research agency YouGov. Whats more, people who spend more time online had more difficulty distinguishing between real and fake news headlines. We saw some results that are different from the ad hoc kinds of tests that [previous] researchers have done, says Rakoen Maertens, a research psychologist at the University of Cambridge and lead author of a study on the development of the test used in the poll, which was published on June 29 in Behavior Research Methods.
Maertenss team worked with YouGov to administer a quick online quiz based on the test that the researchers developed, dubbed the misinformation susceptibility test (MIST). It represents the first standardized test in psychology for misinformation and was set up in a way that allows researchers to administer it broadly and collect huge amounts of data. To create their test, Maertens and his colleagues carefully selected 10 actual headlines and 10 artificial-intelligence-generated false onessimilar to those you might encounter onlinethat they then categorized as real or fake. Test takers were asked to sort the real headlines from the fake news and received a percentage score at the end for each category. Here are a couple of examples of headlines from the test so you can try out your fake news detector: US Support for Legal Marijuana Steady in Past Year, Certain Vaccines Are Loaded with Dangerous Chemicals and Toxins and Moroccos King Appoints Committee Chief to Fight Poverty and Inequality. The answers are at the bottom of this article.
Maertens and his team gave the test to thousands of people across the U.S. and the U.K. in their study, but the YouGov poll was given to 1,516 adults who were all U.S. citizens. On average, in the YouGov poll, U.S. adults correctly categorized about 65 percent of the headlines. However, age seemed to impact accuracy. Only 11 percent of Americans ages 18 to 29 correctly classified 17 or more headlines, and 36 percent got no more than 10 correct. Thats compared with 36 percent of the 65-and-older crowd who accurately assessed at least 16 headlines. And only 9 percent in the latter age group got 10 or fewer correct. On average, Americans below age 45 scored 12 out of 20, while their older counterparts scored 15.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-susceptible-are-you-to-fake-news-theres-a-test-for-that/
erronis
(16,744 posts)🎉 Congratulations!
You're more resilient to misinformation than 71% of the US population!
📈 Your MIST-20 results: 17/20
Veracity Discernment: 70% (ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news)
Real News Detection: 70% (ability to correctly identify real news)
Fake News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify fake news)
Distrust/Naïvité: -3 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You might be a bit skeptical when it comes to the news.
BootinUp
(48,769 posts)I didn't take it, but I also tend to be very skeptical.
Croney
(4,864 posts)Last edited Sun Jul 9, 2023, 01:50 PM - Edit history (1)
A couple of questions gave me pause but I chose correctly.
Scrivener7
(52,391 posts)Your MIST-20 results: 18/20
Veracity Discernment: 80% (ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news)
Real News Detection: 80% (ability to correctly identify real news)
Fake News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify fake news)
Distrust/Naïvité: -2 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You might be a bit skeptical when it comes to the news.
BootinUp
(48,769 posts)answers to three of the questions at the end of the article.
drray23
(7,897 posts)I did detect all the fake news but apparently was skeptical about 2 real news.
maybe the king of morroco appointing a commission to fight poverty (I answered no) ?
the fact 1/3 of people distrust government (I answered yes)
You're more resilient to misinformation than 81% of the US population!
📈 Your MIST-20 results: 18/20
Veracity Discernment: 80% (ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news)
Real News Detection: 80% (ability to correctly identify real news)
Fake News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify fake news)
Distrust/Naïvité: -2 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You might be a bit skeptical when it comes to the news.
BootinUp
(48,769 posts)Ocelot II
(120,110 posts)You're more resilient to misinformation than 89% of the US population!
Your MIST-20 results: 19/20
Veracity Discernment: 90% (ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news)
Real News Detection: 90% (ability to correctly identify real news)
Fake News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify fake news)
Distrust/Naïvité: -1 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You might be a bit skeptical when it comes to the news.
I'd like to know which one I missed, though.
GreenWave
(8,869 posts)and hit 12 dingers!
intrepidity
(7,822 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(50,769 posts)intrepidity
(7,822 posts)I tried a few links from the article and got impatient.
hedda_foil
(16,485 posts)Fake News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify fake news)
Distrust/Naïvité: 0 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You are neither too skeptical nor too gullible when it comes to the news.
Thanks to DU!
Bernardo de La Paz
(50,769 posts)intrepidity
(7,822 posts)Congratulations!
You're more resilient to misinformation than 71% of the US population!
📈 Your MIST-20 results: 17/20
Veracity Discernment: 70% (ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news)
Real News Detection: 70% (ability to correctly identify real news)
Fake News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify fake news)
Distrust/Naïvité: -3 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You might be a bit skeptical when it comes to the news.
Martin68
(24,419 posts)BootinUp
(48,769 posts)because I couldn't find it.
Here it is.
https://yourmist.streamlit.app/
Martin68
(24,419 posts)dpibel
(3,228 posts)🎉 Congratulations!
You're more resilient to misinformation than 96% of the US population!
📈 Your MIST-20 results: 20/20
Veracity Discernment: 100% (ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news)
Real News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify real news)
Fake News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify fake news)
Distrust/Naïvité: 0 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You are neither too skeptical nor too gullible when it comes to the news.
FuzzyRabbit
(2,077 posts)Your MIST-16 results: 15/16
Veracity Discernment: 87.5% (ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news)
Real News Detection: 87.5% (ability to correctly identify real news)
Fake News Detection: 100.0% (ability to correctly identify fake news)
Distrust/Naïvité: -1 (ranges from -8 to +8, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You might be a bit skeptical when it comes to the news.
Chainfire
(17,757 posts)🎉 Congratulations!
You're more resilient to misinformation than 89% of the US population!
📈 Your MIST-20 results: 19/20
Veracity Discernment: 90% (ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news)
Real News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify real news)
Fake News Detection: 90% (ability to correctly identify fake news)
Distrust/Naïvité: +1 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You might be a bit trusting when it comes to the news.
CozyMystery
(652 posts)🎉 Congratulations!
You're more resilient to misinformation than 89% of the US population!
📈 Your MIST-20 results: 19/20
Veracity Discernment: 90% (ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news)
Real News Detection: 90% (ability to correctly identify real news)
Fake News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify fake news)
Distrust/Naïvité: -1 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You might be a bit skeptical when it comes to the news.
sir pball
(4,927 posts)Born in 1979, so I'm in that hazy "Xennial" bridge zone
🎉 Congratulations!
You're more resilient to misinformation than 96% of the US population!
📈 Your MIST-20 results: 20/20
Veracity Discernment: 100% (ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news)
Real News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify real news)
Fake News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify fake news)
Distrust/Naïvité: 0 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You are neither too skeptical nor too gullible when it comes to the news.
misanthrope
(8,083 posts)I took this test before I saw it here, by the way. I was clued in by a skeptics' group.
Orrex
(63,916 posts)I'm not convinced that headlines alone are an adequate measure of people's ability to discern bullshit.
A headline can be faulty or accurate independent of the attached article's veracity.
MIST-20 results: 20/20! A 45 year old millennial in-law listens to talk radio and likes to announce blather such as "evolution is a bunch of shit, and aliens introduce new species because no animal can 'decide' to become another animal", while imitating the shock jock's voice. Frightening decline of critical thinking and objectivity.