The Role of Subject Confidence and Historical Deception in Mis/Disinformation Vulnerability

In two cross-sectional studies, this paper explores the relationship between a person's self-confidence (IV1), the historical risk to deception (IV2), and the risk of him/her falling prey to Mis/Disinformation attacks (DV). Participants (n=193) were explicitly asked to self-report their confidence values and provide their perceived historical risk and were then subjected to the Fake News and deepfake test (15-item). The main data analysis tool employed for this study is factorial, two-way ANOV A. Important findings of the study include the affirmation of the positive effects of self-confidence and no prior history of deception vulnerability in mis/disinformation detection. The intended target audience of this paper are information scientists, digital investigators, cybersecurity consultants, psychologists, policymakers, and legal professionals possibly seeking judicial references.