BOX INFORMATION
SUPPLEMENTARY FILES FORCeylan G, Anderson IA, Wood W. (2023) 'Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased'.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. V120(4).
doi:
10.1073/pnas.2216614120CITING THIS RESEARCHBOX
Wood, W., Ceylan, G., & Anderson, I. (2025). ResearchBox 1074, 'Sharing of Misinformation is Habitual', https://ResearchBox.org/1074. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15038947
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BOX PUBLIC SINCE
February 09, 2023
BOX CREATORSWendy Wood (wendy.wood@usc.edu)
Gizem Ceylan (gizem.ceylan@yale.edu)
Ian Anderson (ianaxelanderson@gmail.com)
ABSTRACTWhy do people share misinformation on social media? In this research (N = 2,476), we show that the structure of online sharing built into social platforms is more important than individual deficits in critical reasoning and partisan bias—commonly cited drivers of misinformation. Due to the reward-based learning systems on social media, users form habits of sharing information that attracts others' attention. Once habits form, information sharing is automatically activated by cues on the platform without users considering response outcomes such as spreading misinformation. As a result of user habits, 30 to 40% of the false news shared in our research was due to the 15% most habitual news sharers. Suggesting that sharing of false news is part of a broader response pattern established by social media platforms, habitual users also shared information that challenged their own political beliefs. Finally, we show that sharing of false news is not an inevitable consequence of user habits: Social media sites could be restructured to build habits to share accurate information.
