Facts versus values: Do moral values predict differences in the credulity of misinformation?

Ms Amrita Ahluwalia is a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests are in moral judgment, particularly in how cognitive conflict arises in decisions between moral concerns and how this conflict relates to deliberated moral values, political ideology and attitudes.

Project description

In recent years, we have witnessed a growth in populist right-wing nationalism on a global scale. With this, we have also seen a rise in the spread of fake news and misinformation. Research with US samples has found that this misinformation disproportionately affects political conservatives, who are more believing of false information regarding hazards (relative to benefits) than liberals. This project will explore whether these findings replicate cross-culturally and whether susceptibility to misinformation may be informed by differences in adherence to moral values, and how considerations of what is morally relevant might predict how people trade-off between their values and fact.

The remaining four Supervisors will be announced shortly.
Stay tuned for more information!