PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS OF THE INFLUENCE OF SYNTHETIC CONTENT ON POLITICAL TRUST AND ELECTORAL CHOICE

Abstract

The psychological mechanisms of synthetic content (deepfakes, AI-generated texts) influence on political trust and electoral behavior are analyzed. It is established that synthetic content appeals to intuitive information processing (System 1), bypassing analytical control. The roles of the illusory truth effect, confirmation bias, and the Liar’s Dividend phenomenon in fostering epistemic nihilism are examined. Fear and anger are shown to be key mediators of manipulative content virality. The effectiveness of prebunking as a cognitive protection strategy is demonstrated. Recommendations for media literacy and electoral education programs are formulated.