High levels of threat and uncertainty characterize the onset of societal crises. Here, people are exposed to conflicting information in the media, including disinformation. Because individuals often base their news selection on pre-existing attitudes, the present study aims to examine selective exposure effects in the face of a crisis, and identify right-wing ideological, trust-, and science-related beliefs that might influence the selection and sharing of disinformation. A representative survey of German internet users (N = 1101) at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak showed a confirmation bias in crisis-related news selection and sharing. It revealed right-wing authoritarianism and political mistrust as significant predictors of disinformation selection. The influence of social dominance orientation, mistrust in politics, and perceived certainty of knowledge were significant for sharing disinformation. The present results extend previous knowledge about people’s (dis)information behavior in times of crisis, and shed light on groups particularly vulnerable to disinformation.

中文翻译：

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危机警报：COVID-19 大流行中的（Dis）信息选择和共享

高度威胁和不确定性是社会危机爆发的特征。在这里，人们会接触到媒体中相互矛盾的信息，包括虚假信息。由于个人通常根据预先存在的态度选择新闻，因此本研究旨在检验面对危机时的选择性曝光效应，并确定可能影响选择和选择的右翼意识形态、信任和科学相关信念。分享虚假信息。在 COVID-19 大流行爆发时对德国互联网用户 (N = 1101) 进行的一项代表性调查显示，在与危机相关的新闻选择和分享方面存在确认偏差。它揭示了右翼威权主义和政治不信任是虚假信息选择的重要预测因素。社会支配取向的影响，对政治的不信任，和感知知识的确定性对于共享虚假信息很重要。目前的结果扩展了以往关于人们在危机时期的（虚假）信息行为的知识，并揭示了特别容易受到虚假信息影响的群体。