Summary: New Cornell University research reveals that combining two different approaches to combat misinformation could be more effective than using either method alone. While “prebunking” videos help people identify manipulative techniques, they only become truly effective at distinguishing truth from falsehood when paired with simple reminders about accuracy. This discovery could have important implications for social media platforms working to reduce the spread of false information.
Journal: Nature Human Behaviour, November 4, 2024
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-02023-2
Reading time: 4 minutes
The Challenge of Fighting False Information
As social media platforms gear up for another presidential election, researchers have been testing new weapons in the fight against misinformation. One popular strategy called “psychological inoculation” has already reached millions of users on YouTube and Facebook. But new research suggests this approach alone might not be enough.
A comprehensive study led by Cornell University, involving nearly 7,300 online participants, has revealed both the promise and limitations of current misinformation-fighting techniques.
Understanding Psychological Inoculation
Psychological inoculation, also known as “prebunking,” uses short videos to teach people about common manipulation tactics found in false information. These videos replace advertisements and highlight techniques like emotional language and scapegoating.
“If you just tell people to watch out for things like emotional language, they’ll disbelieve true things that have emotional language as much as false things that have emotional language,” said Gordon Pennycook, associate professor of psychology.
Testing in Real-World Conditions
The research team tested how well this approach worked with actual headlines. They created two versions of real headlines – one neutral and one emotionally charged. For example, a true headline about vaccine requirements could be presented neutrally as “NYC wants to ‘end the COVID era,’ declares vaccine as a requirement for its workers” or emotionally as “Thousands being forced to take the jab: NYC mandates vaccines for its workers.”
While participants became better at spotting emotional manipulation after watching the inoculation videos, they didn’t improve at determining which headlines were actually true or false.
Finding a Better Solution
The breakthrough came when researchers combined inoculation videos with simple reminders about accuracy. “This shows that combining two techniques that can be readily deployed at scale can boost people’s skills to avoid being misled,” said Stephan Lewandowsky, professor at the University of Bristol and co-author of the research.
When participants received accuracy prompts before and after watching the inoculation video, their ability to identify true headlines improved by up to 10%.
Glossary
- Psychological inoculation: A “prebunking” strategy that teaches people to identify manipulation techniques before they encounter them
- Accuracy prompts: Simple reminders about the importance of considering whether information is true
- False dichotomy: A manipulation technique that presents only two options when more exist
- Scapegoating: The practice of blaming a person or group for problems they didn’t cause
Knowledge Check Quiz
- Question: How many participants were involved in the study?
Answer: Nearly 7,300 online participants - Question: What happened when participants only watched the inoculation video?
Answer: They could identify emotional manipulation but weren’t better at determining if headlines were true or false - Question: By how much did accuracy improve when combining both approaches?
Answer: Up to 10% improvement in identifying true headlines - Question: Where has psychological inoculation already been deployed?
Answer: YouTube, Facebook and other platforms
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