The Role of Openness and Neuroticism in Cognitive Susceptibility to Anti-Immigrant Populist Messages on Social Media: A Comparative Study Among 18- to 30-Year-Olds in the Netherlands and Türkiye

Abstract

Drawing on the Big Five model, this study examines how the personality traits neuroticism and openness relate to cognitive susceptibility to anti-immigrant populist messages on social media among young adults (18–30) in Türkiye and the Netherlands. While prior research suggests that neuroticism heightens vulnerability due to threat sensitivity, and openness offers protection via tolerance and cognitive flexibility, these associations were not supported in the current study. A total of 148 participants (n = 76 Netherlands; n = 72 Türkiye) completed measures of personality, general misinformation susceptibility (MIST), anti-immigrant attitudes, populist attitudes, and social media susceptibility. Regression analyses revealed that neither trait significantly predicted susceptibility to misinformation or populist content. Instead, country-level differences emerged as the most robust factor: Turkish participants exhibited significantly higher susceptibility to populist narratives, stronger anti-immigrant attitudes, and greater engagement with exclusionary content than Dutch participants. A strong negative correlation between general misinformation accuracy and social media susceptibility (r = –.609, p < .001) suggests that cognitive resilience is key to resisting politicized misinformation. No moderation effects were found for personality by country. These findings highlight the limited explanatory power of broad personality traits and emphasize the need to account for political, cultural, and media contexts in understanding susceptibility to online populism.