The next speaker in this morning session at the 2026 International Communication Association conference in Cape Town is Florian Primig, whose interest is in user engagement with alternative media and disinformation in newsfeeds. From a democratic perspective, there is a strong desire for all citizens to be engaging well and open-mindedly with quality information, and divergence from such thinking styles is seen as problematic; such styles are often tested in surveys by testing for intellectual humility and open-minded thinking, and their opposite closed-minded thinking and conspiracy mentality, and are expected to lead to less or more engagement with mis- and disinformation, respectively.
Underlying these assumptions is a belief in cognitive universalism: the belief that reasoning and rationalisation are universal human behaviours. But this is unlikely: humans are fundamentally social cognitive beings, and socialisation within communities has a substantial impact on thinking styles. Cognitive universalism can therefore be understood as a form of cryptonormativity that should be challenged.
Using the simulated newsfeed exposure observer (NEO) framework, which simulates Facebook-style newsfeeds that researchers can manipulate and users can interact with, this study experimented by inserting alternative media content, half of which was misinformation, and tested for user engagement with such content.
Intellectual humility in participants did not reduce alternative media engagement, but instead turned out to boost it; media trust, by contrast, reduced time spent with alternative media. There is considerable difference at the level of individuals, however, and most users simply don’t engage much at all with the content and have very brief engagement times; only a handful of heavy engagers account for most of the time spent with media content from mainstream and alternative media. It is for these heavy engagers that thinking styles do make some difference.
One of the key questions emerging from this is about these high engagers, therefore: what drives them to spend more time on alternative media and engage with mis- and disinformation: curiosity, scrutiny, or other factors?
