People with schizotypy personality traits more likely to share disinformation

False information about the 2020 election on social media contributed to the deadly January 6 insurrection at the Capitol in Washington (Picture: Samuel Corum/Getty)

In a year with more than 60 national elections across the globe, resulting in almost half the world’s population heading to the polls, never has concern over the sharing of false political information been of more concern.

Already in the UK and US, deepfakes of leading politicians have swept across social media – meaning those who do not realise what they are seeing isn’t real could be tricked into changing their vote.

The unstoppable spread of misleading content on social platforms not only damages trust in legitimate news organisations, but can even lead to social unrest, such as the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021, during which five people died.

All of which begs the question – why do people continue to share it?

To investigate, a team from the University of Westminster surveyed almost 2,000 US residents to better understand why social media users choose to actively spread false information, knowingly or not.

They found those who do often display positive schizotypy, a set of personality traits that include paranoia, suspicion and disrupted thinking patterns. It has also been shown to predict the emergence of psychiatric disorders on the schizophrenia spectrum.   

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The study, led by Professor Tom Buchanana, split 1,916 participants into one of four studies.

The first used an online survey to explore personality traits, such as positive schizotypy, conscientiousness and decision-making style, and users’ self-reported tendency to share false information.

Trump supporters clashed with police outside and inside the building (Picture: Getty)

The second expanded on this, looking at participants’ motivations for sharing false information, such as activism, manipulation or for entertainment.

In the third study, participants whose individual differences and motivations were surveyed viewed a series of true and false political headlines, and were asked to indicate whether they would consider sharing each, and whether they thought each was truthful.

For the fourth study, researchers assessed real posts on X posted by participants to determine if the factors identified in the previous studies could be associated with the sharing of false material.