Assessing the potential conditioning effects of mis and disinformation self-efficacy on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge

Prior work on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge has yielded mixed findings. One recent meta-analysis on the topic concluded that the literature, when assessed as a whole, fails to indicate a direct and statistically identifiable between relationship general so...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Toby Hopp, Saima Kazmi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-10-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1226861/full
_version_ 1797635366414450688
author Toby Hopp
Saima Kazmi
author_facet Toby Hopp
Saima Kazmi
author_sort Toby Hopp
collection DOAJ
description Prior work on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge has yielded mixed findings. One recent meta-analysis on the topic concluded that the literature, when assessed as a whole, fails to indicate a direct and statistically identifiable between relationship general social media use and political knowledge. Considering these findings, the present work sought to assess the extent to which general social media use might be conditionally related to political knowledge. To do so, we explored the moderating effect of information-related self-efficacy beliefs. Specifically, building upon general self-efficacy theory and the idea that there exists considerable concern over the extent to which information on social media is factually incorrect, misleading, or biased, we predicted that mis and disinformation self-efficacy (MDSE) beliefs would positively condition the relationship between general social media usage and political knowledge. Contrary to our expectations, the results of three studies indicated that the combination of MDSE and frequent social media use was negatively related to political knowledge.
first_indexed 2024-03-11T12:20:05Z
format Article
id doaj.art-b4c83cb77ec549fc8ad45f55bec31a3b
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1664-1078
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-11T12:20:05Z
publishDate 2023-10-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Psychology
spelling doaj.art-b4c83cb77ec549fc8ad45f55bec31a3b2023-11-07T03:25:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-10-011410.3389/fpsyg.2023.12268611226861Assessing the potential conditioning effects of mis and disinformation self-efficacy on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledgeToby HoppSaima KazmiPrior work on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge has yielded mixed findings. One recent meta-analysis on the topic concluded that the literature, when assessed as a whole, fails to indicate a direct and statistically identifiable between relationship general social media use and political knowledge. Considering these findings, the present work sought to assess the extent to which general social media use might be conditionally related to political knowledge. To do so, we explored the moderating effect of information-related self-efficacy beliefs. Specifically, building upon general self-efficacy theory and the idea that there exists considerable concern over the extent to which information on social media is factually incorrect, misleading, or biased, we predicted that mis and disinformation self-efficacy (MDSE) beliefs would positively condition the relationship between general social media usage and political knowledge. Contrary to our expectations, the results of three studies indicated that the combination of MDSE and frequent social media use was negatively related to political knowledge.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1226861/fullpolitical knowledgesocial mediaself-efficacymis and disinformationnews consumption
spellingShingle Toby Hopp
Saima Kazmi
Assessing the potential conditioning effects of mis and disinformation self-efficacy on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge
Frontiers in Psychology
political knowledge
social media
self-efficacy
mis and disinformation
news consumption
title Assessing the potential conditioning effects of mis and disinformation self-efficacy on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge
title_full Assessing the potential conditioning effects of mis and disinformation self-efficacy on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge
title_fullStr Assessing the potential conditioning effects of mis and disinformation self-efficacy on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the potential conditioning effects of mis and disinformation self-efficacy on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge
title_short Assessing the potential conditioning effects of mis and disinformation self-efficacy on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge
title_sort assessing the potential conditioning effects of mis and disinformation self efficacy on the relationship between general social media use and political knowledge
topic political knowledge
social media
self-efficacy
mis and disinformation
news consumption
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1226861/full
work_keys_str_mv AT tobyhopp assessingthepotentialconditioningeffectsofmisanddisinformationselfefficacyontherelationshipbetweengeneralsocialmediauseandpoliticalknowledge
AT saimakazmi assessingthepotentialconditioningeffectsofmisanddisinformationselfefficacyontherelationshipbetweengeneralsocialmediauseandpoliticalknowledge