Discerning Falsehood Through a Racial Lens? The Moderating Effects of Analytical Thinking and a Diverse Network

This article seeks to understand how racial cues in social media narratives influence individuals’ discernment of falsehoods and their engagement with such content. Built on multiple frameworks, such as motivated reasoning and the illusory truth effect, this study conducted a novel survey experiment that manipulated two types of racial cues: racial identifier (the primary subject was illegal immigrants vs people in general) and issue framing (crime vs economy). Results showed that explicit racial identifier—specifying the subject to be illegal immigrants—boosted people’s capacity to discern false narratives, especially those about the economic issue. We also uncovered the moderating roles of analytical thinking (cognitive reflection (CR) and actively open-minded thinking (AOT)) and the racial diversity of one’s personal contacts, which, in general, indicated a buffering effect. These findings underscore the importance of cognitive and network-based factors in combating false information about socially marginalised groups in the USA.