Older people aren’t necessarily more likely to fall for misinformation than younger adults, a new study shows.
- Researchers wanted to know if there was an age difference to determine if a news is true or false
- Some information-processing abilities are preserved or even improved in older people
One would think that with the decline in cognitive abilities associated with age, the elderly would automatically be more likely to be fooled. But this is not the case according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Florida.
Wider knowledge base
Indeed, it is also true that with age comes a broader knowledge base, greater life experience and, often, more positive affect.
Especially since older adults tend to consume more news than younger adults. These factors help to contextualize their relationship to information that may have caused concern during the Covid-19 pandemic with the dramatic increase in misinformation and the fact that the virus has been particularly deadly for the elderly.
Covid and non-Covid topics
According to the study, conducted between May and October 2020 on people aged 61 to 87 and young adults, it may not be until a very old age, when the decline in cognitive abilities cannot longer be compensated by gains in life experience and knowledge of the world, that individuals become particularly vulnerable to deception through misinformation and fake news, the researchers said in their study.
Participants read and rated 12 comprehensive news articles on Covid and non-Covid topics, with six real and six fake stories in each category. After reading an article, participants had to answer questions such as whether the article was true or false and how confident they were in their decision.
The researchers then measured the participants’ analytical reasoning skills, their affect and their frequency of news consumption.
Differences between individuals
They drew several conclusions: Determining that an article was false was linked to differences in analytical reasoning skills between individuals in the two age groups.
In addition, both young and old adults had difficulty in detecting Covid fake news compared to everyday fake news, which may be because no one was familiar with the related information. to Covid at the start of the pandemic.
Reduced capacity
However, the fact remains that individuals aged 70 or over, who had more positive affect and who frequently consumed news, were more likely to engage in “shallow” information processing, not watching as much information carefully or not paying attention to detail
But not being able to tell fake news from real news can have serious consequences for a person’s physical, emotional and financial well-being – especially for older people, who typically have more financial assets and need to make more high-stakes healthcare decisions.
“This is a particularly at-risk population, with high stakes for poor decision-making, not just for themselves but for society as a whole,” said Natalie Ebner, co-author and professor of psychology at the University of Florida.
The results of the study could help find channels to help access and understand information for this particular population, and to reduce misinformation throughout life and during aging.