Dataset for "The Power of Technical Language: Does Jargon Use Influence the Credibility of Misinformation?"

Across two studies we examined the impact of different levels of jargon on the perceived credibility of texts containing reliable or unreliable information. Study 1 found that higher levels of jargon were associated with increased credibility ratings for unreliable texts. Study 2 showed that higher levels of jargon were also associated with lower processing fluency for both reliable and unreliable texts, and that this relationship was independent of a measure of conspiracy mentality. Additionally, the high level of jargon was associated with higher credibility ratings compared to text containing no jargon; further, participants scoring high in conspiracy mentality were more influenced by the amount of jargon when making their credibility ratings. Taken together, these findings suggest that the presence of technical terms in a passage enhances the credibility of even unreliable text, and that individuals with conspiracy mentality leanings are more susceptible to this influence of jargon. unknown