"Fake News" may be in the mind of the beholder.
Researchers at Ohio State University found that it's very common for people to "mis-remember" information based on their preconceived beliefs and biases.
As part of the study, participants were told the fact that the number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. has declined in recent years. Even though that's a fact, some participants recalled the exact opposite based on their personal political allegiances.
The study found that when people repeat the misinformation, the details drift further from reality and more toward their bias.
“People can self-generate their own misinformation. It doesn’t all come from external sources,” says lead author and assistant professor of communication at OSU Jason Coronel.
“We need to realize that internal sources of misinformation can possibly be as significant as or more significant than external sources,” comments co-author and doctoral student Shannon Poulsen. “We live with our biases all day, but we only come into contact with false information occasionally.”
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