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Is Foreign Language News More or Less Credible Than Native Language News? Examining the Foreign Language Effect on Credibility Perceptions

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Disinformation in Open Online Media (MISDOOM 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14397))

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Abstract

In this study, we examine whether perceived news credibility is affected when reading news in a foreign language. In addition, we investigate whether a possible effect might be the result of (a) the attenuation of emotional responses in a foreign language and whether (b) it affects individuals depending on their need for cognition. In an online experimental study with N = 134 participants, we presented a news article either in the participants’ native language or in a foreign language. Controlling for individuals’ need for cognition, we assessed participants’ emotional reactions and their perceived credibility. Results indicate that, for participants with a high need for cognition, the native language article was rated as more credible than the foreign language article. Participants with a low need for cognition perceived the foreign news article as similarly credible as compared to the native news. The language condition did not affect emotional responses.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The B1 proficiency level follows the Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CERF) (see more here https://bit.ly/3mn129y). B1 describes the independent user stage, an intermediate stage of language proficiency, which students commonly achieve after their graduation (after 10 years of schooling).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Trustworthy Data Science and Security, Dortmund, Germany

    Magdalena Wischnewski

  2. University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany

    Anna Wermter

Authors
  1. Magdalena Wischnewski
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  2. Anna Wermter
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Magdalena Wischnewski .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Davide Ceolin

  2. University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Tommaso Caselli

  3. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Marina Tulin

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Wischnewski, M., Wermter, A. (2023). Is Foreign Language News More or Less Credible Than Native Language News? Examining the Foreign Language Effect on Credibility Perceptions. In: Ceolin, D., Caselli, T., Tulin, M. (eds) Disinformation in Open Online Media. MISDOOM 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14397. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47896-3_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47896-3_13

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-47896-3

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