Socio-Psychological Factors of User Trust in Information in Electronic Mass Communication

Abstract

The relevance of the topic of trust is because, in the modern world, the media have a huge impact on public consciousness. Based on what people have heard in the news, read on the Internet, a definite opinion is formed on this or that issue. That is why a person is simultaneously exposed to different sides of such media like television, newspapers, broadcast media. It is not easy to navigate and understand the huge flow of information since a person does not always have the opportunity to check the material's reliability. Most often, after receiving information, a person perceives it as the only correct one, which contributes to the formation of false ideas that have nothing to do with the truth.The constant increase in the volume of information and its sources (in particular, the Internet) raises the question of trust in information. The focus of attention is the very existence of this phenomenon, its relationship with various factors, the relationship between trust in information and broader concepts.During the experiment, the authors revealed that the properties of the information that determine its reliability have a specific hierarchy of significance depending on the type of information. The more important the information is for the user, the more significant is its reliability for trusting it. Once the information's importance decreases, its credibility is determined by several properties of the information. The authors determined which sources users trust most and least and made a user's portrait with the most developed critical thinking.The results obtained can be used to develop a program to increase audience confidence in online media and to develop a program to form a more critical audience attitude to information. The obtained results on trust in information and its socio-psychological factors are based on the key methodological principles of psychological science and supplement the existing knowledge on the issues of trust and distrust concerning information in electronic mass communication.

Trust Management: A Cooperative Approach Using Game Theory

“…Socio-physiological: Because the media has such a large influence on public consciousness in today's environment, the question of trust is important. People create firm opinions on many issues based on what they have heard in the news or read on the Internet [25]. As a result, a person gets exposed to several aspects of media such as television, newspapers, and broadcast media at the same time.…”