German University Says People With ‘Dark Personality Traits’ Are More Likely To Believe “Fake News”

The Human Computer Media Institute at Julius-Maximilians-Universität in Würzburg (JMU) recently published a study titled, “When truthiness trumps truth: Epistemic beliefs predict the accurate discernment of fake news” – asserting that people with these types of personality traits are more likely to dismiss ‘concrete facts’ over narratives that more align with someone’s own notions.

Study Finds wrote, ‘People with dark personality traits, including narcissism or psychopathy, are more likely to assume that politics, science, and media entities “fabricate” facts to their own interests — a characteristic similar to projection.’

Psychologist and study co-author Jan Philipp Rudloff provided an example of these types of people he and his cohorts are referring to – those who have “dark personality traits” and are narcissistic:

You could call their beliefs post-factual; they only believe what feels true to them.

People with dark personality traits bend reality to their own liking. For example: ‘I don’t wear a mask because the coronavirus was just invented by the media anyways.’ Bending the facts based on selfish motives works especially well when people are convinced that there are no independent scientific facts anyways.

SEE: Further Evidence That Covid-19 Was Never Isolated. Is “Long-Covid” And Other Symptoms Being Blamed On Nutrient Deficiencies?

The study had a small sample of size of only 600 Americans and gave them headlines to read and discern, such as, “Trump’s First 3 Years Created 1.5 Million Fewer Jobs Than Obama’s Last Three,” before giving the participants the actual facts.

‘The participants were asked to indicate how much they trust their gut feeling when evaluating the accuraty [sic] of information, how important solid evidence is to them and how much they assume that politics, science and the media “fabricate” facts according to their interests,’ the university explained in a press release.

They also tested these participants to see how many times the subjects assert their own interests, even at the expense of others, that apparently indicated if these people had some of these “dark personality traits.”

Epistemic beliefs are the decisive factor. People who don’t believe in the power of sound evidence and arguments won’t be swayed by even the most impressive fact-checking – regardless of their other personality traits.

In the best case, at some point we learn to evaluate different positions. For example: yes, there are different opinions, but some more by backed by evidence than others.

Rudloff added. Epistéme comes from the Greek and means “cognition” or “knowledge.” In other words, they are referring to how a person believes other come to know something and their ‘criteria’ for knowing it.

But these these scientists suggest in their study that these traits are not acquired through time and experience, but developed in people naturally.

The scientists wrote in their abstract:

The widespread distribution of mis- and disinformation highlights the need to understand why individuals fall for fake news. Surprisingly, individuals’ very understanding of knowledge and how it is created (epistemic beliefs) has received little attention in this context.

We present a model focusing on the role of post-truth epistemic beliefs, their relationship to the Dark Factor of Personality (D), and their mutual association with fake news discernment. Based on a repeated measures experiment (N = 668), we show that individuals who endorse post-truth epistemic beliefs distinguish less between fake news and accurate news (fake news discernment).

Further, D was linked to reduced fake news discernment, which is explained by a positive relationship with post-truth epistemic beliefs. Results remained virtually identical when ideology congruent and ideology incongruent news were considered separately.

In conclusion, when addressing the global threat of fake news, epistemic beliefs need to be considered.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

Whelp, it’s official: I must be darker than dark itself! Oh, my ‘o my the sweet, sweet, sweet, irony: irony so sweet it’s sickening.

[18] For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. [19] For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. [20] Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? [21] For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

[18] Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. [19] For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. [20] And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

1 Corinthians 1:18-21, 3:18-20

As I said, the irony of this is just hysterical. In the world we live in today, a critical thinker and someone who is not a fickle-minded jellyfish that believes everything they are told, are labeled as evil and mentally psychotic. All this “higher learning,” and yet these people are the dumbest of them all. This isn’t science in the slightest: they are clearly the ones pushing their own agendas.

[15] The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. [16] A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.

[1] Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. [2] A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. [3] When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach.

Proverbs 12:15-16. 18:1-3

And we already know, time and time again, where the see-through media narrative is then internally dismantled later on anyways. Moreover, the United Nations literally admitted to working with tech companies to bolster and push propaganda and fake doctors, to get their agendas pushed and accepted.

United Nations’ Melissa Fleming Says ‘We Own The Science’ And Openly Manipulate The Media, During World Economic Forum Meeting

Psychology is a pseudo-science, or as the King James Bible calls it, “oppositions of science falsely so called (1 Timothy 6:20-21).” There are no absolutes and wickedness in this field, and most “science” these days: it’s purely relativism and philosophy. There is no such thing as sin: just brain disorders and chemical misfirings; that these mad scientists believe they can isolate, manipulated through gene-splicing, and replace with new ones.

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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