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How dark triad influences rumors spreading on social media? Mediating role of declining third-person effect

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Abstract

Given the prevalence of rumors in today's society, the adverse impact they have on individuals' well-being has become increasingly evident, particularly with the exacerbation caused by the widespread COVID-19 pandemic. It is crucial that we address this issue urgently and effectively. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, incidents of rumor spreading on social media have posed significant threats that urgently require our response. Although the process and contextual factors of rumor transmission online are well established, little is known about individual differences in rumor sharing, especially why specific individuals are more likely to share rumors online. This online study (N = 327) examined the relationship between the Dark Triad and rumor-sharing intention and explored how this individual difference led to higher rumor-sharing intention through the decline of the Third-person Effect. Correlational analysis showed that Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy were positively correlated with rumor-sharing intentions. When we adjusted for shared variance and demographic variables between dark triad traits, Machiavellianism was the only positive predictor, and the Third-person Effect mediated this effect. These findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available available in the following link: https://osf.io/45qj8/?view_only=67c4b7df515c409a84130505aded858a.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the Social Science Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (grant numbers 19YJCZH073, 20YJCZH189) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (23JNQMX50, JBK22YJ54). The authors are grateful to Keyue Dai, Qi Feng, and Biao Suo for excellent research assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Journalism and Communication, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China

    Kaisheng Lai, Gaohong Jing & Jingyuan Zhao

  2. School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Liutai Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, China

    Xiling Xiong

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  1. Kaisheng Lai
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  2. Gaohong Jing
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  4. Xiling Xiong
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Contributions

Kaisheng Lai: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing-original draft, Supervision. Gaohong Jing: Writing-review & editing. Jingyuan Zhao: Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology. Xiling Xiong: Data analysis, Writing-original draft, review & editing.

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Correspondence to Xiling Xiong.

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Lai, K., Jing, G., Zhao, J. et al. How dark triad influences rumors spreading on social media? Mediating role of declining third-person effect. Curr Psychol 43, 7007–7013 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04903-8

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