Inoculating Against Fake News About COVID-19
The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been accompanied by a large amount of misleading and false information about the virus, especially on social media. In this article, we explore the coronavirus “infodemic” and how behavioral scientists may seek to address this problem....
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566790/full |
| _version_ | 1818409666299822080 |
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| author | Sander van der Linden Jon Roozenbeek Josh Compton |
| author_facet | Sander van der Linden Jon Roozenbeek Josh Compton |
| author_sort | Sander van der Linden |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been accompanied by a large amount of misleading and false information about the virus, especially on social media. In this article, we explore the coronavirus “infodemic” and how behavioral scientists may seek to address this problem. We detail the scope of the problem and discuss the negative influence that COVID-19 misinformation can have on the widespread adoption of health protective behaviors in the population. In response, we explore how insights from the behavioral sciences can be leveraged to manage an effective societal response to curb the spread of misinformation about the virus. In particular, we discuss the theory of psychological inoculation (or prebunking) as an efficient vehicle for conferring large-scale psychological resistance against fake news. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T10:03:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4aa5dec27744479da6da1b755d6698f6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T10:03:15Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-4aa5dec27744479da6da1b755d6698f62022-12-21T23:07:13ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-10-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.566790566790Inoculating Against Fake News About COVID-19Sander van der Linden0Jon Roozenbeek1Josh Compton2Cambridge Social Decision-Making Laboratory, Department of Psychology, School of Biology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United KingdomCambridge Social Decision-Making Laboratory, Department of Psychology, School of Biology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United KingdomInstitute for Writing and Rhetoric, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United StatesThe outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been accompanied by a large amount of misleading and false information about the virus, especially on social media. In this article, we explore the coronavirus “infodemic” and how behavioral scientists may seek to address this problem. We detail the scope of the problem and discuss the negative influence that COVID-19 misinformation can have on the widespread adoption of health protective behaviors in the population. In response, we explore how insights from the behavioral sciences can be leveraged to manage an effective societal response to curb the spread of misinformation about the virus. In particular, we discuss the theory of psychological inoculation (or prebunking) as an efficient vehicle for conferring large-scale psychological resistance against fake news.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566790/fullCOVID-19fake newsmisinformationinoculationinfodemic |
| spellingShingle | Sander van der Linden Jon Roozenbeek Josh Compton Inoculating Against Fake News About COVID-19 Frontiers in Psychology COVID-19 fake news misinformation inoculation infodemic |
| title | Inoculating Against Fake News About COVID-19 |
| title_full | Inoculating Against Fake News About COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | Inoculating Against Fake News About COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Inoculating Against Fake News About COVID-19 |
| title_short | Inoculating Against Fake News About COVID-19 |
| title_sort | inoculating against fake news about covid 19 |
| topic | COVID-19 fake news misinformation inoculation infodemic |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566790/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sandervanderlinden inoculatingagainstfakenewsaboutcovid19 AT jonroozenbeek inoculatingagainstfakenewsaboutcovid19 AT joshcompton inoculatingagainstfakenewsaboutcovid19 |