Manipulation of Consciousness: Psychological Mechanisms for Spreading Disinformation in Crisis Situations

Abstract

During crises such as wars, pandemics, and economic or technological disasters, disinformation spreads faster and wider than accurate information, amplifying social anxiety and undermining institutional trust. Its effects are driven by cognitive biases (illusory truth effect, confirmation heuristics), group identity congruence, and emotional triggers. The aim of this study is to integrate these psychological mechanisms and assess the effectiveness of inoculation (prebunking) and cognitive (accuracy-prompt) interventions in countering crisis-related disinformation. A preregistered multi-wave online experiment with a 2×2×2 factorial design was conducted on a sample of about 2000 adults from Ukraine and Central/Eastern Europe. Results indicate that repeated exposure amplifies the illusory truth effect; congruence with social identity increases credibility; threatening emotional tone enhances virality. Stand-alone interventions (prebunking or accuracy prompts) reduced belief and sharing intention by about 10–15%, whereas their combination achieved more than a 20% reduction with lasting effects. Age, need for cognition, and conspiratorial beliefs moderated susceptibility to disinformation. These findings demonstrate that combined preventive strategies can substantially strengthen societal informational resilience during crises.

Keywords: Disinformation, infodemic, illusory truth effect, social identity, emotional triggers, prebunking, accuracy prompts, informational resilience, crisis communication