Towards psychological herd immunity: Cross-cultural evidence for two prebunking interventions against COVID-19 misinformation
Misinformation about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a pressing societal challenge. Across two studies, one preregistered ( n 1 = 1771 and n 2 = 1777), we assess the efficacy of two ‘prebunking’ interventions aimed at improving people’s ability to spot manipulation techniques commonly used in...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2021-05-01
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| Series: | Big Data & Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211013868 |
| _version_ | 1818678108717318144 |
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| author | Melisa Basol Jon Roozenbeek Manon Berriche Fatih Uenal William P. McClanahan Sander van der Linden |
| author_facet | Melisa Basol Jon Roozenbeek Manon Berriche Fatih Uenal William P. McClanahan Sander van der Linden |
| author_sort | Melisa Basol |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Misinformation about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a pressing societal challenge. Across two studies, one preregistered ( n 1 = 1771 and n 2 = 1777), we assess the efficacy of two ‘prebunking’ interventions aimed at improving people’s ability to spot manipulation techniques commonly used in COVID-19 misinformation across three different languages (English, French and German). We find that Go Viral! , a novel five-minute browser game, (a) increases the perceived manipulativeness of misinformation about COVID-19, (b) improves people’s attitudinal certainty (confidence) in their ability to spot misinformation and (c) reduces self-reported willingness to share misinformation with others. The first two effects remain significant for at least one week after gameplay. We also find that reading real-world infographics from UNESCO improves people’s ability and confidence in spotting COVID-19 misinformation (albeit with descriptively smaller effect sizes than the game). Limitations and implications for fake news interventions are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T09:10:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-455e1d73c3f54257a60d0e476e0dcc2f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2053-9517 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T09:10:02Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Big Data & Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-455e1d73c3f54257a60d0e476e0dcc2f2022-12-21T21:55:15ZengSAGE PublishingBig Data & Society2053-95172021-05-01810.1177/20539517211013868Towards psychological herd immunity: Cross-cultural evidence for two prebunking interventions against COVID-19 misinformationMelisa BasolJon RoozenbeekManon BerricheFatih UenalWilliam P. McClanahanSander van der LindenMisinformation about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a pressing societal challenge. Across two studies, one preregistered ( n 1 = 1771 and n 2 = 1777), we assess the efficacy of two ‘prebunking’ interventions aimed at improving people’s ability to spot manipulation techniques commonly used in COVID-19 misinformation across three different languages (English, French and German). We find that Go Viral! , a novel five-minute browser game, (a) increases the perceived manipulativeness of misinformation about COVID-19, (b) improves people’s attitudinal certainty (confidence) in their ability to spot misinformation and (c) reduces self-reported willingness to share misinformation with others. The first two effects remain significant for at least one week after gameplay. We also find that reading real-world infographics from UNESCO improves people’s ability and confidence in spotting COVID-19 misinformation (albeit with descriptively smaller effect sizes than the game). Limitations and implications for fake news interventions are discussed.https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211013868 |
| spellingShingle | Melisa Basol Jon Roozenbeek Manon Berriche Fatih Uenal William P. McClanahan Sander van der Linden Towards psychological herd immunity: Cross-cultural evidence for two prebunking interventions against COVID-19 misinformation Big Data & Society |
| title | Towards psychological herd immunity: Cross-cultural evidence for two prebunking interventions against COVID-19 misinformation |
| title_full | Towards psychological herd immunity: Cross-cultural evidence for two prebunking interventions against COVID-19 misinformation |
| title_fullStr | Towards psychological herd immunity: Cross-cultural evidence for two prebunking interventions against COVID-19 misinformation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Towards psychological herd immunity: Cross-cultural evidence for two prebunking interventions against COVID-19 misinformation |
| title_short | Towards psychological herd immunity: Cross-cultural evidence for two prebunking interventions against COVID-19 misinformation |
| title_sort | towards psychological herd immunity cross cultural evidence for two prebunking interventions against covid 19 misinformation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211013868 |
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