Heads-up for people sharing fake political news on social media: You may be prone to psychosis or schizophrenia!

Social media has significantly broadened our exposure to various mental health disorders, ranging from attention-seeking behaviours and antisocial tendencies to self-esteem issues and eating disorders. The multitude of posts on several platforms has made mental health issues more visible than ever before.

Now, intriguing research reveals that sharing false political information on social media may also be linked to certain personality traits, specifically those associated with positive schizotypy.

Positive schizotypy refers to a subset of schizotypal personality traits, including paranoia, suspicion and disrupted thinking patterns. These traits are associated with an increased risk for developing psychosis or schizophrenia but are not in themselves indicative of a disorder.

This study, conducted by Tom Buchanan of the UK’s University of Westminster, also found that individuals who share fake political news are often driven by a desire to raise awareness. This reflects a complex interplay between personality traits and user motivation.
Exploring schizotypy's influence on misinformation spread
The spread of false political content on social media can erode trust in genuine news and potentially fuel social discord. Despite this, a small segment of users knowingly or unknowingly continues to share misleading material, impacting the broader information ecosystem.

Buchanan and his colleagues set out to understand the differences between those who share false material on social media and those who refrain, as well as their underlying motivations. They examined both personal attributes (like personality) and reasons for sharing, conducting four studies with a total of 1,916 participants from the United States.

In the first study, a cross-sectional online survey assessed the relationship between individual differences—such as positive schizotypy, conscientiousness and decision-making styles—and users’ self-reported tendencies to share false information. This study aimed to map out how personality traits influence misinformation sharing.

The second study built on the first by examining the motivations behind sharing false information, including activism, manipulation and entertainment. Participants’ responses highlighted various reasons that drive individuals to disseminate misleading content on social platforms.

During the third study, participants, having been surveyed on their individual traits and motivations, were presented with a mix of true and false political headlines. They were asked to indicate whether they would consider sharing each headline and to judge its truthfulness, which provided insights into their decision-making processes.

In the fourth and final study, researchers analysed real tweets from participants to see if the factors identified in the previous studies correlated with actual instances of sharing false material on Twitter. This real-world assessment aimed to validate the findings of the earlier surveys.

Across all studies, the research team found consistent evidence linking positive schizotypy to the sharing of false information, both accidentally and intentionally. Although the effect sizes were small, these findings further reinforce positive schizotypy’s reliance on intuition and biases rather than careful, reflective thought in decision-making.

When it came to motivations, participants most commonly cited the goal of raising awareness as their reason for sharing political information, underscoring the role of perceived social impact in their actions.

The study authors do highlight that some exploratory analyses were constrained by small sample sizes, and participants might not always have been aware of the falsehoods in the information they shared.

They also call for further studies to explore the links between positive schizotypy and the spread of false information, aiming to refine methods to address these challenges. After all, understanding who shares false information and their reasons for doing so could be key to developing targeted strategies to combat misinformation.

The study was recently published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE and can be accessed here.