Table 2 Overview of exploratory measures of study 3

Objective memory

Index (0–12) of four multiple-choice questions (e.g., an example item asks what example was given in the video for using emotional language in news headlines, with options such as changing a headline from serious accident to horrific accident, using a radio broadcast to trigger emotions, or employing emojis to trigger emotions) and eight yes-or-no questions (e.g., participants are asked which of the following they learned about in the video, with answer options like the role of fear and outrage, yes or no)

7.31

2.43

Self-reported remembrance

Single-item Likert scale (1–7); example item: participants are asked how well they remember the video shown at the beginning of the survey, with ratings from 1 (I remember nothing) to 7 (I remember everything)

3.61

1.90

Self-reported interference

Index (1–7) of three Likert items; example item: participants are asked how often, in the past two weeks, they have seen videos about emotional language, with ratings from 1 (Not at all true) to 7 (Very true)

2.76

1.61

Motivational threat

Index (1–7) of three Likert items; example item: participants are asked how much the idea of emotional language on social media motivates them to resist misinformation, with responses ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 7 (Strongly agree)

4.88

1.45

Apprehensive threat

Index (1–7) of seven Likert items; example item: participants are asked how threatened they feel by emotionally manipulative language on social media, with responses ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 7 (Strongly agree)

3.32

1.67

Fear

Mean index of three Likert items; example item: participants are asked how fearful they feel about emotionally manipulative language on social media, with responses ranging from 1 (None of this feeling) to 7 (A great deal of this feeling)

3.00

1.77

Issue involvement

Index (1–7) of six choose-one-option-from-this-pair questions, asking which option of each pair best describes how much deception by emotionally manipulative language on social media means to them, with ratings ranging from insignificant to significant

4.81

2.49

Issue accessibility

Index (1–7) of two Likert items; example item: participants are asked how often, compared to other issues, they think about the issue of manipulative news (e.g., using emotional language), with responses from 1 (Never) to 7 (Very often)

3.70

1.60

Issue talk

Index (1–7) of three questions, including two Likert scale items on how often participants talked about the issue of emotional language on social media in the past two weeks (1 = Never, 7 = Very often) and two choice-list questions on how many times participants discussed the issue of manipulative news in the past two weeks (e.g., 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, More than 5)

2.37

1.38