Who falls for fake news? | Sander van der Linden

Sander van der Linden is Professor of Social Psychology in Society in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab. His research interests center around the psychology of human judgment and decision-making. In particular, he is interested in the social influence and persuasion process and how people are influenced by (mis)information and gain resistance to persuasion through psychological inoculation. He is also interested in the study of fake news, media effects, social networks, and belief systems (e.g., conspiracy theories), as well as the emergence of social norms, polarization, reasoning about evidence, and public understanding of risk and uncertainty. His research spans from social psychology to cognitive science using a variety of techniques, from virtual reality to survey and lab studies to computational social science and large-scale (online) interventions.

His book FOOLPROOF: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity (HarperCollins/WW Norton, www.foolproofbook.com) was listed by the BBC, Cosmopolitan, Apple, Men's Health, and Next Big Idea's as one of the most anticipated non-fiction books of 2023.

He has published around 150 papers and is ranked among the top 1% of all social scientists worldwide (Clarivate ISI Highly Cited Researcher) and among the top 2% across all scientific fields.