Projects per year
Abstract
Fact-checking has become an important feature of the modern media landscape. However, it is unclear what the most effective format of fact-checks is. Some have argued that simple retractions that repeat a false claim and tag it as false may backfire because they boost the claim's familiarity. More detailed refutations may provide a more promising approach, but may not be feasible under the severe space constraints associated with social-media communication. In two experiments, we tested whether (1) simple ‘false-tag’ retractions can indeed be ineffective or harmful; and (2) short-format (140-character) refutations are more effective than simple retractions. Regarding (1), simple retractions reduced belief in false claims, and we found no evidence for a familiarity-driven backfire effect. Regarding (2), short-format refutations were found to be more effective than simple retractions after a 1-week delay but not a one-day delay. At both delays, however, they were associated with reduced misinformation-congruent reasoning.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | British Journal of Psychology |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 2 Mar 2019 |
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'The effectiveness of short-format refutational fact-checks'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Projects
- 1 Finished
-
The Psychology of Misinformation—Towards A Theory-driven Understanding
Ecker, U., Lewandowsky, S. & Brown, G.
1/01/16 → 30/06/20
Project: Research