Misinformation Effect Research Articles

Overcoming COVID-19 Misinformation: Lessons Learned at the Epicentre of the Outbreak in the USA

THE COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the dire need to foster increased public confidence in mitigation and prevention strategies through more and better health literacy. More than 2 years into the worst public health crisis of the 21st century, we continue to be consumed by the most basic health questions: should I get tested for COVID-19, should I get vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19, and should I wear a mask? In many countries, the tension between personal freedoms and public good helps to fuel a global threat, with continued transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and its evolving, more infectious variants. This short essay discusses the negative effects of misinformation and disinformation, and shares recommendations based on lessons learned.

False Memories in Online Misinformation Experimental Context

"In times of pandemic and afterwards, online platforms and settings have been intensively used. With the purpose of investigating how this setting affected our memory, recent studies have found that memory distortions are present in online environments as well. Therefore, the objective of the present research was to assess misinformation effect in online context, more specifically to assess misinformation effect using leading questions and suggestibility techniques in online format. Our results indicate the presence of misinformation effect through suggestibility, but not through leading questions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Keywords: misinformation effect; leading questions; suggestibility; false memories; eyewitness testimony; online context "

Does Pornography Misinform Consumers? The Association between Pornography Use and Porn-Congruent Sexual Health Beliefs

Pornography may contribute to sexual health illiteracy due to its often fantastical and unrealistic depictions of sex. This cross-sectional study investigated whether pornography use was associated with holding porn-congruent sexual health beliefs among a sample of 276 Australian and Singaporean university students (Mage = 23.03, SDage = 7.06, 67.9% female, 47.8% Australian). The majority of participants (95.5% of males and 58.9% of females) reported viewing pornography in the past six months. Perceived realism of pornography and prior sexual experience were tested as potential moderators of the relationship between pornography use frequency and sexual health beliefs. Pornography use frequency showed no zero-order association with sexual health beliefs in the overall sample (although a significant zero-order association was observed among female participants). However, a significant positive association between porn use and porn-congruent sexual health beliefs was found in the overall sample, after controlling for demographic variables. Neither perceived realism nor sexual experience were found to act as moderators. Interestingly, prior sexual experience showed a significant zero-order association with sexual health beliefs, such that prior sexual experience was associated with holding porn-congruent beliefs. Perceived realism was unrelated to porn-congruent sexual health beliefs. The study provides some preliminary support for pornography having a misinformation effect on the sexual health knowledge of consumers.

Education-Based Gap in Misinformation Acceptance: Does the Gap Increase as Misinformation Exposure Increases?

Based on the knowledge gap hypothesis as a theoretical framework, the present study examines (a) whether there is an education-based gap in misinformation acceptance, (b) whether the education-based gap could be explained by differences in issue knowledge, information processing, and media dependency, and (c) whether the education-based gap in misinformation acceptance widens as the level of exposure to misinformation increases. We conducted a survey of 821 Korean adults regarding their acceptance of misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccination. First, we found that there was an education-based gap in misinformation acceptance such that those with lower education were more likely to accept misinformation. Second, we found that the effect was mediated by low issue knowledge, less systematic processing, and dependency on social media. Third, the education-based gap in misinformation acceptance widened when misinformation exposure increased. These results are consistent with the knowledge gap hypothesis and the theoretical and practical implications are further discussed.

Implications of Misinformation for Public Order Policing

On September 8th, 2022, Dr. Laura Huey, a professor of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario, presented on The Implications of Misinformation for Public Order Policing. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS-Vancouver executives. The key points discussed in Dr. Huey’s presentation highlighted the risks and effects of misinformation around policing and how they can quickly spiral globally and have harmful effects on the police force’s reputation and police officers.

Overconfident, resentful, and misinformed: How racial animus motivates confidence in false beliefs

AbstractObjectiveWe examine the role of racial resentment in motivating Americans to express confidence in misinformed beliefs on racialized scientific issues.MethodsWe study survey data from the 2020 American National Election Study. We examine respondents’ endorsement of misinformation on different scientific issues and their reported confidence in these views.ResultsWe find that racial resentment plays a strong role in leading Americans to hold confidently misinformed views about highly racialized policy issues (e.g., the occurrence of anthropogenic climate change or the origins of the COVID‐19 pandemic), but not on less racialized issues (e.g., childhood vaccine safety).ConclusionsOur work underscores the often‐overlooked importance of intergroup attitudes in shaping overconfidence and helps resolve theoretical tensions in the study of misinformation acceptance.

Conspiratorial thinking as a precursor to opposition to COVID-19 vaccination in the US: a multi-year study from 2018 to 2021

Despite widespread availability of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in the US, only about 66% of the eligible US population had taken the recommended initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccines as of April 2022. Explanations for this hesitancy have focused on misinformation about the vaccines, lack of trust in health authorities, and acceptance of conspiracy theories about the pandemic. Here we test whether those with a conspiratorial mindset, which distrusts a wide range of institutions, were poised to reject COVID vaccines before the pandemic even began. To answer that question, we reinterviewed members of a national US panel that we had previously surveyed beginning in 2018. As hypothesized, having a conspiratorial mindset in 2019 predicted COVID-vaccination hesitancy in 2021 better than prior trust in health authorities or acceptance of vaccine misinformation. Those with the mindset were also more likely to consume media that bolstered belief in pandemic conspiracies. Research is needed on the determinants of conspiratorial mindset and ways to minimize the likelihood that consequential health decisions will be influenced by it.

Effects of health misinformation on misbeliefs: understanding the moderating roles of different types of knowledge

PurposeHealth misinformation poses severe risks to people’s health decisions and outcomes. A great deal of research in this area has focused on debunking misinformation and found limited effects of correctives after misinformation exposure. The research on prebunking strategies has been inadequate. Most has focused on forewarning and enhancing literacy skills and knowledge to recognize misinformation. Part of the reason for the inadequacy could be due to the challenges in conceptualizing and measuring knowledge. This study intends to fill this gap and examines various types of knowledge, including subjective knowledge, cancer literacy, persuasion knowledge and media literacy. This study aims to understand how knowledge may moderate the effect of misinformation exposure on misbeliefs.Design/methodology/approachAn online experiment with a basic experimental design (misinformation exposure: health misinformation vs factual health message) was conducted. The authors measured and tested the moderating role of different types of knowledge (subjective knowledge, cancer literacy, persuasion knowledge and media literacy) separately to improve the understanding of their role in combatting online health misinformation.FindingsThis study found that a higher level of cancer literacy and persuasion knowledge helped people identify misinformation and prevented them from being persuaded by it. A higher level of subjective knowledge, however, reduced the recognition of misinformation, thereby increasing the likelihood of being persuaded by it. Media literacy did not moderate the mediation path.Originality/valueThis study differentiates the role different types of knowledge may have played in moderating the influence of health misinformation. It contributes to a strategic development of interventions that better prepare people against the influence of health misinformation.

Associations between the misinformation effect, trauma exposure and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression

ABSTRACT This research aimed to conduct an initial investigation into the relationships between the “misinformation effect” and trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Study 1 was a pilot study developing an online misinformation paradigm that could assess the influence of emotion and arousal on memory distortions. Participants (n = 162, Mage = 39.90; SD = 10.90) were recruited through TurkPrime. In Study 2 community members (n = 116, Mage = 28.96; SD = 10.33) completed this misinformation paradigm and measures of trauma exposure, PTSD, and depression. Study 1 found memory for central details was better for high-arousal than low-arousal and neutral-arousal images. Peripheral memory appeared worse for negative and neutral images than positive images. Study 2 found trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms predicted the misinformation effect; greater trauma exposure was associated with a greater proportion of errors, while PTSD was associated with a lower proportion of errors. Valence and arousal did not influence these associations. These findings have important implications in clinical and legal contexts where individuals with a history of trauma, or who are experiencing symptoms of PTSD or depression, are often required to recall emotionally-laden events. There is a surprising dearth of research into the misinformation effect in clinical populations and further research is required.

Conspiracy Beliefs, Misinformation, Social Media Platforms, and Protest Participation

Protest has long been associated with left-wing actors and left-wing causes. However, right-wing actors also engage in protest. Are right-wing actors mobilized by the same factors as those actors on the left? This article uses cross-national survey data (i.e., US, UK, France, and Canada) gathered in February 2021 to assess the role of misinformation, conspiracy beliefs, and the use of different social media platforms in explaining participation in marches or demonstrations. We find that those who use Twitch or TikTok are twice as likely to participate in marches or demonstrations, compared to non-users, but the uses of these platforms are more highly related to participation in right-wing protests than left-wing protests. Exposure to misinformation on social media and beliefs in conspiracy theories also increase the likelihood of participating in protests. Our research makes several important contributions. First, we separate right-wing protest participation from left-wing protest participation, whereas existing scholarship tends to lump these together. Second, we offer new insights into the effects of conspiracy beliefs and misinformation on participation using cross-national data. Third, we examine the roles of emerging social media platforms such as Twitch and TikTok (as well as legacy platforms such as YouTube and Facebook) to better understand the differential roles that social media platforms play in protest participation.

Learning to eat from others: Does nutritional information acquired from peers affect nutrition intake?

Rural communities in low- and middle-income countries are vulnerable to malnutrition. They also tend to have strong social ties, exhibit high social connectedness, and lean on relatives, neighbors, and friends for support and information. Accordingly, focusing on the three macronutrients (proteins, fats, and carbohydrates) and three critical micronutrients (iron, zinc, and selenium), we analyze the effects of nutritional information acquired from relatives, neighbors, and friends on rural households' nutrition intake. We utilize propensity score matching to analyze cross-sectional data collected from 915 rural households in China. Results show that acquiring nutritional information significantly improves households' intake of fats, iron, and selenium but does not affect the intake of proteins, carbohydrates, and zinc. The disaggregated analysis reveals that the nutrition intake of females responds to nutritional information, but that of males does not. Also, large households' nutrition intake increases in response to nutritional information, whereas that of small households is mostly unaffected. The results suggest that people assimilate new ideas to improve their dietary habits. However, by the same token, they may be susceptible to the deleterious effects of nutritional misinformation and fads. Policymakers, not-for-profit organizations, and industry stakeholders should disseminate evidence-based nutritional information to foster health and wellbeing in rural areas.

Fake News, Voter Overconfidence, and the Quality of Democratic Choice

This paper studies, theoretically and experimentally, the effects of overconfidence and fake news on information aggregation and the quality of democratic choice in a common-interest setting. We theoretically show that overconfidence exacerbates the adverse effects of widespread misinformation (i.e., fake news). We then analyze richer models that allow for partisanship, targeted misinformation intended to sway public opinion, and news signals correlated across voters (due to media ownership concentration or censorship). In our experiment, overconfidence severely undermines information aggregation, suggesting that the effect of overconfidence can be much more pronounced at the collective than at the individual level. (JEL C91, D12, D72, D82, D83, L82)

Information misbehaviour: modelling the motivations for the creation, acceptance and dissemination of misinformation

PurposeMisinformation is a significant phenomenon in today's world: the purpose of this paper is to explore the motivations behind the creation and use of misinformation.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was undertaken, covering the English and Russian language sources. Content analysis was used to identify the different kinds of motivation relating to the stages of creating and communicating misinformation. The authors applied Schutz's analysis of motivational types.FindingsThe main types of motivation for creating and facilitating misinformation were identified as “in-order-to motivations”, i.e. seeking to bring about some desired state, whereas the motivations for using and, to a significant extent, sharing misinformation were “because” motivations, i.e. rooted in the individual's personal history.Originality/valueThe general model of the motivations underlying misinformation is original as is the application of Schutz's typification of motivations to the different stages in the creation, dissemination and use of misinformation.

‘Tell me what just happened’: the effect of immediate recall on adult memory for instances of a repeated event

ABSTRACT To reduce the memory decay associated with delayed reporting, witnesses are often encouraged to note down their recall immediately after the event. However, research has only investigated the benefits of immediate recall for single events; no research has explored whether immediate recall can improve memory for repeated events. Therefore, this research examined the effect of immediate recall on adult memory for a repeated event. In Experiment 1 (N = 42), participants watched four workplace bullying videos. After each video, the experimental group immediately recalled what occurred during the bullying instance, while the control group did not. One-week after the final video, all participants completed a final recall report about each video in the series. In Experiment 2 (N = 46), the same design and procedure were followed as Experiment 1, except prior to completing their final recall reports, all participants received correct and misleading post-event information about the third instance. The findings revealed that immediate recall enhanced memory accuracy across instances, but did not impact recall of source memory errors nor misinformation acceptance. The findings suggest that it may be beneficial for victims/witnesses of repeated offences, such as domestic abuse, to document their memories soon after experiencing an incident.

Factual Corrections Eliminate False Beliefs About COVID-19 Vaccines

Abstract The spread of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines threatens to prolong the pandemic, with prior evidence indicating that exposure to misinformation has negative effects on intent to be vaccinated. We describe results from randomized experiments in the United States (n = 5,075) that allow us to measure the effects of factual corrections on false beliefs about the vaccine and vaccination intent. Our evidence makes clear that corrections eliminate the effects of misinformation on beliefs about the vaccine, but that neither misinformation nor corrections affect vaccination intention. These effects are robust to formatting changes in the presentation of the corrections. Indeed, corrections without any formatting modifications whatsoever prove effective at reducing false beliefs, with formatting variations playing a very minor role. Despite the politicization of the pandemic, misperceptions about COVID-19 vaccines can be consistently rebutted across party lines.

Active versus passive: evaluating the effectiveness of inoculation techniques in relation to misinformation about climate change

ABSTRACT Objective The current study evaluated whether an active inoculation (interactive skill development) or a passive inoculation message (provision of information) were effective tools for conferring resistance to misinformation about climate science in the context of extreme weather events. Method Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions: a control condition (no training); a passive inoculation condition; or an active inoculation condition. Participants completed demographic questions followed by training or no training and then evaluated a misinformation and factual article for reliability and persuasiveness. Results Participants in the active inoculation condition rated the reliability and persuasiveness of the misinformation article and the reliability of the factual article lower than participants in the control condition. Participants in the passive inoculation training did not rate the reliability and persuasiveness of a misinformation and factual article significantly differently to those in the control condition. When factors such as ideological worldview and climate change beliefs were controlled for however, the inoculation interventions had no significant effect on ratings of reliability and persuasiveness for a misinformation or factual article. Conclusion Inoculation seems to be a promising method of preventing the acceptance of misinformation on climate science. However, this analysis highlights that more investigation is required in order to determine the most effective inoculation training design.

Text validation: Overlooking consistency effect discrepancies.

The consistency effect, prevalent in the text comprehension literature, comprises longer reading times for inconsistent than equivalent consistent text continuations. It is widely interpreted as reflecting readers' effective "validation" of text coherence. However, there are also numerous phenomena of readers' deficient validation, sometimes collectively labelled "misinformation effects." This study asked whether readers become consciously aware of the text discrepancies diagnosed by the consistency effect. Experiment 1 scrutinized (a) conspicuous conceptual inconsistencies and (b) character-trait inconsistencies. It replicated the consistency effect both at a critical target sentence and at a subsequent sentence (spillover). Experiment 2 replaced self-paced reading with consistency judgments about the target sentences. The subjects overlooked almost half of the inconsistencies, thus denying that readers reliably become aware of consistency-effect discrepancies. In Experiment 3, the former target sentences were reframed as explicit questions. Accuracy for inconsistencies was statistically indistinguishable from accuracy for consistent targets, favoring the interpretation that Experiment 2 subjects overlooked known, encoded discrepancies. The results are interpreted with reference to Kintsch's (Psychological Review, 95, 163-182, Kintsch, 1988; Comprehension. New York: Cambridge University Press, Kintsch, 1998) construction-integration model, a refinement of which adds an immediate, passive stage of validation processing to construction and integration. It is proposed that passive validation affords the detection of text inconsistencies that do not reach the level of readers' conscious awareness.

A Comprehensive Dataset of Brazilian Fact-Checking Stories

In recent years, digital platforms have become a powerful means for large scale information diffusion world-wide, particularly in Brazil. Understanding key aspects driving the misinformation diffusion process is of paramountimportance to the design and implementation of new tools to automatically detect misinformation content. In this scenario, fact-checking performed by high credibility agencies provide rich labeled data, which is fundamental to build tools capable of detecting and mitigating the effects of misinformation. This paper opens a novel dataset, referred to as FactCenter, to the research community, containing fact-check instances collected from 6 different Brazilian fact-checking agencies. This dataset has 11 647 fact-check instances, covering several topics and domains. We present an initial analysis of the data collected, enriched by data from Facebook, which demonstrates the potential of our repository for future studies.

Does COVID-19 Message Fatigue Lead to Misinformation Acceptance? An Extension of the Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model

ABSTRACT Based on the Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model, the present study examines whether COVID-19 message fatigue leads to greater information avoidance and heuristic processing, and consequently greater acceptance of misinformation. We conducted a survey of 821 Korean adults regarding their information seeking and processing regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Results of SEM analyses showed that COVID-19 message fatigue was (a) negatively related to information insufficiency and (b) positively related to information avoidance and heuristic processing. Information avoidance and heuristic processing were subsequently related to greater levels of misinformation acceptance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Misinformation About COVID-19 Vaccines on Social Media: Rapid Review.

BackgroundThe development of COVID-19 vaccines has been crucial in fighting the pandemic. However, misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines is spread on social media platforms at a rate that has made the World Health Organization coin the phrase infodemic. False claims about adverse vaccine side effects, such as vaccines being the cause of autism, were already considered a threat to global health before the outbreak of COVID-19.ObjectiveWe aimed to synthesize the existing research on misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines spread on social media platforms and its effects. The secondary aim was to gain insight and gather knowledge about whether misinformation about autism and COVID-19 vaccines is being spread on social media platforms.MethodsWe performed a literature search on September 9, 2021, and searched PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and the Cochrane COVID-19 Study Register. We included publications in peer-reviewed journals that fulfilled the following criteria: original empirical studies, studies that assessed social media and misinformation, and studies about COVID-19 vaccines. Thematic analysis was used to identify the patterns (themes) of misinformation. Narrative qualitative synthesis was undertaken with the guidance of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 Statement and the Synthesis Without Meta-analysis reporting guideline. The risk of bias was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tool. Ratings of the certainty of evidence were based on recommendations from the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation Working Group.ResultsThe search yielded 757 records, with 45 articles selected for this review. We identified 3 main themes of misinformation: medical misinformation, vaccine development, and conspiracies. Twitter was the most studied social media platform, followed by Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. A vast majority of studies were from industrialized Western countries. We identified 19 studies in which the effect of social media misinformation on vaccine hesitancy was measured or discussed. These studies implied that the misinformation spread on social media had a negative effect on vaccine hesitancy and uptake. Only 1 study contained misinformation about autism as a side effect of COVID-19 vaccines.ConclusionsTo prevent these misconceptions from taking hold, health authorities should openly address and discuss these false claims with both cultural and religious awareness in mind. Our review showed that there is a need to examine the effect of social media misinformation on vaccine hesitancy with a more robust experimental design. Furthermore, this review also demonstrated that more studies are needed from the Global South and on social media platforms other than the major platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.Trial RegistrationPROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42021277524; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021277524International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)RR2-10.31219/osf.io/tyevj