Why Older Adults Are More Likely to Share Political Misinformation
A new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General takes a close, data-driven look at why adults aged 55 and older tend to share more political misinformation online than younger users. The findings challenge the popular assumption that older adults spread misinformation because they struggle to tell real news from fake news. Instead, the research points to something far more familiar—and far more human: stronger partisanship.
Below is a clear and direct breakdown of all the specifics from the study, followed by additional context on misinformation, aging, and political psychology to help readers understand the broader picture.
What the New Study Found
Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and the Rochester Institute of Technology conducted a large study involving nearly 2,500 adults across the United States and Brazil, with participants ranging in age from 18 to 80. About 1,700 were from the U.S. and 700 from Brazil. The idea was simple: examine who tends to believe and share misleading political headlines, and explore the reasons behind their behavior.
Participants were shown political headlines—some true, some false—that either favored right-leaning ideas or left-leaning ideas depending on the political context of each country. Importantly, several of the headlines had already been identified by fact-checking organizations as false, but the participants did not know which ones.
A few examples the study used:
- In the U.S., a false pro-Republican headline claiming that Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump for president.
- In Brazil, a false pro-liberal headline stating that President Jair Bolsonaro planned to cut 25% of civil servants’ salaries.
After reading each headline, participants answered how likely they were to share it on social media. In a follow-up round, they were also asked whether they believed each headline was true or false. Researchers additionally measured each person’s political ideology and their ability to engage in analytic thinking, which is the skill of pausing, questioning, and logically evaluating information.
The findings were clear: older adults were significantly more likely to share political misinformation, but not because they were more gullible or less analytical. The study found no evidence that older adults have weaker cognitive skills in recognizing fake news. In fact, other research even suggests older adults can sometimes be better at spotting fake content.
So what’s really going on?
The Role of Partisanship
The study revealed that the biggest factor influencing misinformation sharing wasn’t age-related cognitive decline. It was partisan bias—and older adults tended to show this bias more strongly.
The pattern was consistent:
- When a headline favored their political side, older participants were more likely to believe it and more likely to share it, even if it was false.
- When a headline favored the opposing side, they were more skeptical, even when the headline was true.
In other words, their standards for evaluating information shifted based on whether the news aligned with their preferred ideology. The older the participant, the stronger this effect became.
This wasn’t limited to one political party or one country. The pattern held for conservatives and liberals alike, and it held in both the U.S. (a two-party system) and Brazil (which currently has about 30 active political parties). This consistency suggests that the misinformation issue isn’t simply a quirk of the U.S. political landscape—it’s a broader psychological trend.
The researchers did not claim that older adults intentionally spread misinformation. Rather, the data suggests that they tend to trust headlines that flatter their side and distrust headlines that flatter the other, regardless of factual accuracy. This automatic response is what researchers refer to as a knee-jerk partisan reaction.
Why Partisanship Strengthens With Age
The study didn’t explore why older adults become more partisan, but other research offers several possible explanations:
1. Identity Becomes More Fixed Over Time
As people age, their sense of identity—including political identity—tends to stabilize. Older adults often have decades of voting patterns, political conversations, and ideological commitments behind them.
2. Selective Social Circles
Older adults often have narrower social networks compared to younger people. With age, people naturally cluster around others who share similar views, reinforcing political identity.
3. Media Consumption Habits
Older adults are more likely to consume news from television and Facebook—platforms where political misinformation spreads widely and where algorithmic filtering can create echo chambers.
4. Emotional Reactions to Politics Increase
Research on political psychology shows that people often become more emotionally invested in political outcomes as they age, especially on issues connected to identity or personal history.
Taken together, these factors help explain why older adults might filter information more strongly through a partisan lens.
What the Study Doesn’t Support
The research also pushed back against some common assumptions:
- It does not support the stereotype that older adults fall for misinformation because of cognitive decline.
- It does not support the idea that older adults simply can’t distinguish fake news from real news.
- It does not suggest that only certain groups of older adults are responsible; the effect appears across party lines and across countries.
- It does not claim that older adults deliberately spread false information.
Instead, the key factor was consistent across the board: partisan bias influenced how older participants judged accuracy and sharing likelihood.
Why This Matters for Democracy and Social Media
Older adults are deeply involved in political life. They vote at higher rates, are active on platforms like Facebook, and often share political content more frequently than younger users.
Because of this:
- Their sharing behavior can amplify misinformation far beyond their own networks.
- Partisan-aligned misinformation can spread rapidly because it resonates emotionally.
- Misinformation can influence voter perception, civic attitudes, and public trust.
This makes the study’s findings especially important for policymakers, educators, and platform designers.
The study also suggests that many current misinformation interventions—like training people to spot fake headlines—may not be enough. If partisan emotion overrides accuracy, then improving critical-thinking skills alone won’t fully address the issue.
Strategies That May Help
Based on the findings and broader research, several strategies could potentially reduce partisan-driven misinformation sharing among all age groups, not just older ones:
Encourage Cross-Political Conversations
People who regularly interact with friends who disagree with them tend to have more balanced perspectives and avoid extreme bias. Maintaining diverse friendships matters—both offline and online.
Add Small “Accuracy Checks” Before Sharing
Even simple prompts like “Does this seem accurate?” or “Would I believe this if it supported the other side?” can disrupt automatic partisan responses.
Promote Digital Media Literacy
Helping users reflect on why they trust some headlines more than others—not just whether the headlines are true—can shift sharing habits.
Reduce Echo Chambers
Unfriending people over political disagreements reinforces polarization. Staying connected with diverse viewpoints can help weaken partisan knee-jerk reactions.
Additional Background: How Misinformation Spreads
To give readers more context, here’s what broader research tells us about how misinformation spreads—across all ages.
Emotional Content Travels Faster
Posts that spark anger, outrage, or fear spread more rapidly because they trigger stronger engagement.
Social Media Amplifies Biases
Algorithms prioritize content similar to what users already engage with, which means partisan content rises to the top.
Repetition Makes Falsehoods Seem True
Hearing something multiple times—especially in a politically charged environment—can create a false sense of familiarity, even when the information is untrue.
People Share to Signal Identity
Much misinformation sharing isn’t about accuracy at all. It’s about belonging to a group and signaling shared values.
These factors combine with partisanship, making political misinformation particularly difficult to manage.
Link to the Published Research Paper
The Age of Misinformation: Older People Exhibit Greater Partisan Bias in Sharing and Evaluating (Mis)Information Accuracy
https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001868
