Issue Importance and the Correction of Misinformation

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study of misinformation – and its correction – has proliferated in recent years. Yet the empirical record includes instances where corrective messages do and do not work, even on similar issues. Despite intense scholarly attention to this topic, it remains unclear when people will revise false beliefs. Our study examines a factor with a long history in the study of public opinion: the importance a person attaches to an issue. The subjective state of issue importance has complex effects. It can increase an individual’s motivation to engage in effortful information processing while also leading them to defend existing beliefs and opinions. In a series of experiments administered in national surveys, we examine whether issue importance is implicated in the failure to correct false beliefs. The analyses show that on the topic of GM foods, the effects of a corrective message are smallest among misinformed people who rated the issue as personally important. By contrast, framing GM foods in terms of partisan identity engendered little resistance to a corrective message. Our findings illustrate the value of adopting a broader perspective on misinformation because people may resist corrections for reasons that are unrelated to their partisanship.