Cognitive reasoning

The role of reasoning and analytic thinking—including cognitive reflection, dual-process theories, and individual differences—in evaluating information, making judgments, and resisting misinformation.

Key papers and articles

• Acerbi (2019) — Cognitive attraction and online misinformation — systematic analysis of evolved cognitive preferences that make narratives appealing: threat-related content, negative framing, social information, and disgust elements; frames individual differences in cognitive susceptibility as expressions of universal evolved biases
• Roozenbeek & van der Linden (2019) — Fake news game confers psychological resistance against online misinformation — shows that cognitive reasoning improvements through active inoculation training are effective independent of baseline cognitive reflection ability
• Lazy, not biased: Susceptibility to partisan fake news is better explained by lack of reasoning than by motivated reasoning — Pennycook & Rand on analytic thinking as a driver of fake news resistance