source credibility
Definition
Source credibility refers to the perceived qualities of an information source that shape how individuals respond to the messages that source produces, encompassing dimensions of expertise, trustworthiness, and bias. Expertise is grounded in epistemic authority and reflects characteristics such as seniority, professional activity, and education, while trustworthiness concerns perceptions of honesty, and bias concerns perceptions of vested interest or a skewed perspective on a topic. These dimensions are related but separable: a source can be simultaneously perceived as trustworthy and biased when it honestly communicates a one-sided view. In persuasion research, high source credibility consistently predicts attitude change, with effect sizes comparable to those of argument quality, yet systematic reviews of misinformation research reveal that source credibility effects in that domain are far less consistent. Conceptual conflation of credibility dimensions and neglect of moderators such as cognitive elaboration have been identified as likely causes of this discrepancy. Source credibility effects in misinformation contexts are also more consistently observed for cognitive outcomes such as perceived accuracy than for behavioural outcomes such as sharing intentions.
Sources: Mang et al. (2024)
Related Terms
- misinformation (1 shared article)
- persuasion (1 shared article)
- source trustworthiness (1 shared article)
- source expertise (1 shared article)
- source bias (1 shared article)
Applications
Source Credibility and Misinformation Correction
Source credibility has been examined both in the initial exposure to misinformation and in subsequent correction processes. Research has focused on how the credibility of the correcting source influences correction effectiveness, and some work has also explored how the credibility of the original exposure source shapes what happens during correction. These two lines of inquiry have produced findings that are inconsistent with each other and with the more settled persuasion literature.
Sources: Mang et al. (2024)
Source Credibility and Cognitive Elaboration
Source credibility information can function as a peripheral cue under low elaboration, as a processing-extent modifier under moderate elaboration, or as a biasing factor or issue-relevant argument under high elaboration. Misinformation research has largely neglected this moderating variable, which a systematic review of 91 studies identifies as a likely explanation for inconsistent findings across that literature.
Sources: Mang et al. (2024)
Source Credibility and Perceived Accuracy
Perceived accuracy, a cognitive outcome measuring how truthful individuals judge a piece of information to be, shows more consistent associations with source credibility than behavioural outcomes do in misinformation research. Studies using shorter stimuli such as social media posts and headlines tend to show more reliable source credibility effects on perceived accuracy than studies using longer articles, where substantive content may override source cues.
Sources: Mang et al. (2024)
