Emotional Factors of Disinformation Belief

Module 3

Combating Online Misinformation to Prevent Radicalisation of Vulnerable Adults

Erasmus+ Project # 2025-1-NL01-KA220-ADU-000358363

Learning Goal:

Understand how emotions influence belief formation and drive the viral spread of misinformation.

Lessons

3.1. Emotional Triggers and Viral Dynamics

Fear, anger, disgust, and moral outrage as accelerators of viral news spread.
Emotional contagion in social media ecosystems.

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Module 3.1 Download

3.2. Affective Polarisation

How emotional identification with groups or causes shapes information acceptance.
Emotional manipulation by populist narratives and “us vs. them” framing.

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Module 3.2 Download

3.3.Emotion Regulation and Awareness in Education

Reflective techniques to help learners recognise emotional manipulation.
Classroom simulations illustrating affective bias in news consumption.

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module3_3 Download

3.4. Educational Implications

Teaching emotional awareness: scenario-based discussions, guided reflection on emotional responses.
Metacognitive strategies: emotion-tracking exercises and collaborative journals.

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Estonian case Download

3.5: Self-assessment

Self-assessment quiz: “Which emotional states affect my social media engagement?”
Reflective Task: Describe what social media content triggers your emotions.

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Module 3

1 / 10

The “warm glow of familiarity” is the phenomenon where:

Familiar statements are always evaluated more critically than unfamiliar statements.

Familiar statements evoke positive feelings, which can be mistaken for evidence of truth.

Familiar statements are automatically perceived as true, regardless of any accompanying feelings.

2 / 10

What is the BEST example of how we mistake processing fluency for the feeling of truth?

While reading an article that does not align with their political views, a politician judges the writer as objective.

A teacher feels annoyed while reading a student essay due to the difficult-to-read font and feels dislike for the student.

A juror finds a suspect’s written statement easy to process and subsequently judges the claims as more likely to be true.

3 / 10

“Cognitive attraction” in the context of online misinformation refers to:

Our tendency to share information that aligns with our political beliefs.

The features of information that make it more likely to be processed and remembered.

The persuasive strategies used to manipulate individuals' emotions.

4 / 10

Which emotional state increases vulnerability to misinformation by encouraging heuristic, “gut-feeling” thinking?

Sadness

Happiness

Anger

5 / 10

According to feelings-as-information theory, people are more likely to:

Separate their emotional state from their truth judgments.

Interpret their subjective feelings as evidence supporting a claim.

Reject any information that contradicts their mood.

6 / 10

Why are rhyming statements more easily believed?

They contain more factual information.

They are processed more fluently, which makes them feel true.

They are perceived as more rooted in traditional cultural wisdom.

7 / 10

Which of the following emotional triggers is most associated with strengthening conspiracy beliefs?

Happiness

Disgust

Surprise

8 / 10

Why do negative stories dominate the news and spread widely on social media?

Negative content is less memorable and needs extra promotion.

Negative content is processed as entertainment rather than information.

Negative content is perceived as more important and credible than positive.

9 / 10

How does social isolation influence susceptibility to misinformation?

It increases people's reliance on institutional sources of information.

It reduces attention to emotionally charged content.

It increases vulnerability to conspiracy theories and extreme narratives.

10 / 10

Why stories are more persuasive than facts?

Stories usually contain detailed statistical evidence.

Stories combine emotional, social, and cultural cues that enhance memory and engagement.

Stories avoid addressing negative content, which reduces emotional influence.

Your score is

The average score is 100%

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Online Combat

Emotional Factors of Disinformation Belief

Module 3

Combating Online Misinformation to Prevent Radicalisation of Vulnerable Adults

Learning Goal:

Lessons

3.1. Emotional Triggers and Viral Dynamics

3.2. Affective Polarisation

3.3.Emotion Regulation and Awareness in Education

3.4. Educational Implications

3.5: Self-assessment

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