Trust Dynamics in Digital Media: Personality, Politics, and Psychological Underpinnings

The field of media psychology has increasingly focused on the complex interplay between individual characteristics and digital ecosystem structures in shaping political information processing and trust. While initial optimism predicted that digital platforms would democratize discourse, current evidence indicates that social media often exacerbates polarization, misinformation, and the fragmentation of public opinion. Recent research has shifted toward unpacking the psychological mechanisms that guide users’ engagement, with particular attention to enduring personality traits and their interaction with algorithmic recommendations and persuasive digital architectures. Despite extensive documentation of growing distrust and the proliferation of misinformation online - which is only set to increase with the growth of genAI - critical gaps remain in understanding how and why trust in digital media is differentially constructed across populations.At the heart of this challenge is the insufficient integration of individual-level psychological factors, such as personality and political identity, with the systemic logics of digital media platforms. Most existing studies either aggregate users into uniform groups or isolate personality and ideology as separate predictors, thereby overlooking their dynamic and interactive effects within personalized, algorithm-driven environments. This narrow focus has constrained both theoretical models and the implementation of interventions designed to foster trust and mitigate polarization. Emerging technologies and methodological advancements now offer the potential for integrating diverse data sources—from computational behavioral analytics to neurocognitive measures—enabling more nuanced and context-sensitive research on these pressing issues.This Research Topic aims to marshal interdisciplinary inquiry linking micro-level psychological processes—such as individual personality dimensions, cognitive and identity-motivated reasoning, and affective responses—to broader patterns of trust formation and fragmentation in digital media environments. By leveraging innovative methodologies, including computational social science, experimental psychology, and neurocognitive assessment, the Research Topic seeks to advance integrative models that explain the erosion and repair of media trust. Ultimately, these insights will inform interventions in platform design, digital media literacy, and political communication strategies that strengthen public resilience against misinformation and polarization.This Research Topic welcomes studies that directly investigate the psychological mechanisms by which individual differences, digital platform characteristics, and political contexts interact to shape trust-related outcomes. Empirical and theoretical contributions should centrally address psychological constructs and processes.To gather further insights in this interdisciplinary area, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:- The mechanisms by which personality traits and/or political affiliation affect trust in specific digital information sources- Cognitive and motivated reasoning processes contributing to misinformation susceptibility and partisan trust- The interplay of political identity and algorithmic personalization in shaping perceived credibility and echo chambers- Neurocognitive and psychophysiological correlates of trust formation and violation across digital media- Psychological interventions designed to foster critical engagement and repair trust in digital media- How trust in generative AI output (including from particular AI tools) varies by personality, political affiliation, or situational context Topic editors: Gordon Patrick Dunstan Ingram, Graham G Scott, WILLIAM JIMENEZ LEAL Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76427/trust-dynamics-in-digital-media-personality-politics-and-psychological-underpinnings