The psychological drivers of misinformation belief and its resistance to correction

Ullrich K H Ecker; Stephan Lewandowsky; John Cook; Philipp Schmid; Lisa K Fazio; Nadia  Brashier; Panayiota Kendeou; Emily K Vraga; Michelle A Amazeen

doi:10.1038/s44159-021-00006-y

The psychological drivers of misinformation belief and its resistance to correction

Ullrich K H Ecker^*
, Stephan Lewandowsky
, John Cook
, Philipp Schmid
, Lisa K Fazio
, Nadia Brashier
, Panayiota Kendeou
, Emily K Vraga
, Michelle A Amazeen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

1116 Citations (Scopus)

3659 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Misinformation has been identified as a major contributor to a variety of contentious contemporary events ranging from elections and referenda to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only can belief in misinformation lead to poor judgements and decision making, it also exerts a lingering influence on people’s reasoning after it has been corrected—an effect known as the continued influence effect. In this Review, we describe the cognitive, social, and affective factors that lead people to form or endorse misinformed views, and the psychological barriers to knowledge revision after misinformation is corrected, including theories of continued influence. We discuss the effectiveness of both pre-emptive (‘prebunking’) and reactive (‘debunking’) interventions to reduce the impacts of misinformation, as well as implications for information consumers and practitioners in various areas including journalism, public health, policy-making, and education.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	13–29 (2022)
Number of pages	17
Journal	Nature Reviews Psychology
Volume	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-021-00006-y
Publication status	Published - 12 Jan 2022

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Research Groups and Themes

Cognitive Science
Covid19
TeDCog

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Full-text PDF (author’s accepted manuscript)
This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Springer Nature at https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-021-00006-y . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Accepted author manuscript, 478 KB
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This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Springer Nature at https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-021-00006-y. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Accepted author manuscript, 738 KB

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Persistent link

JITSUVAX: JIU-JITSU WITH MISINFORMATION IN THE AGE OF COVID: USING REFUTATION-BASED LEARNING TO ENHANCE VACCINE UPTAKE AND KNOWLEDGE AMONG HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS AND THE PUBLIC
Lewandowsky, S. (Principal Investigator), Gould, G. (Manager), Finn, A. H. R. (Co-Investigator), Barden, M. L. (Researcher), Anderson, E. C. (Researcher), Fisher, H. (Researcher) & Roderick, M. R. (Collaborator)
1/04/21 → 31/03/25
Project: Research, Parent

Cite this

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title = "The psychological drivers of misinformation belief and its resistance to correction",

abstract = "Misinformation has been identified as a major contributor to a variety of contentious contemporary events ranging from elections and referenda to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only can belief in misinformation lead to poor judgements and decision making, it also exerts a lingering influence on people{\textquoteright}s reasoning after it has been corrected—an effect known as the continued influence effect. In this Review, we describe the cognitive, social, and affective factors that lead people to form or endorse misinformed views, and the psychological barriers to knowledge revision after misinformation is corrected, including theories of continued influence. We discuss the effectiveness of both pre-emptive ({\textquoteleft}prebunking{\textquoteright}) and reactive ({\textquoteleft}debunking{\textquoteright}) interventions to reduce the impacts of misinformation, as well as implications for information consumers and practitioners in various areas including journalism, public health, policy-making, and education.",

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AU - Ecker, Ullrich K H

AU - Lewandowsky, Stephan

AU - Cook, John

AU - Schmid, Philipp

AU - Fazio, Lisa K

AU - Brashier, Nadia

AU - Kendeou, Panayiota

AU - Vraga, Emily K

AU - Amazeen, Michelle A

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The psychological drivers of misinformation belief and its resistance to correction

Abstract

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JITSUVAX: JIU-JITSU WITH MISINFORMATION IN THE AGE OF COVID: USING REFUTATION-BASED LEARNING TO ENHANCE VACCINE UPTAKE AND KNOWLEDGE AMONG HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS AND THE PUBLIC

Cite this