Research: Susceptibility To Fake News Related To Cognitive Ability

“The ‘lingering influence’ of fake news ‘is dependent on an individual’s level of cognitive ability,’ psychologists Jonas De Keersmaecker and Arne Roets of Ghent University write in the journal Intelligence. They report people with greater cognitive skills can and do make corrections when new, better information supersedes a mistaken early report. Those whose reasoning, understanding, and problem-solving abilities are less advanced have trouble making that switch.”