Psychological inoculation can reduce susceptibility to misinformation in large rational agent networks
The unchecked spread of misinformation is recognized as an increasing threat to public, scientific and democratic health. Online networks are a contributing cause of this spread, with echo chambers and polarization indicative of the interplay between the search behaviours of users and reinforcement...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211953 |
| _version_ | 1797840289860157440 |
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| author | Toby D. Pilditch Jon Roozenbeek Jens Koed Madsen Sander van der Linden |
| author_facet | Toby D. Pilditch Jon Roozenbeek Jens Koed Madsen Sander van der Linden |
| author_sort | Toby D. Pilditch |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The unchecked spread of misinformation is recognized as an increasing threat to public, scientific and democratic health. Online networks are a contributing cause of this spread, with echo chambers and polarization indicative of the interplay between the search behaviours of users and reinforcement processes within the system they inhabit. Recent empirical work has focused on interventions aimed at inoculating people against misinformation, yielding success on the individual level. However, given the evolving, dynamic information context of online networks, important questions remain regarding how such inoculation interventions interact with network systems. Here we use an agent-based model of a social network populated with belief-updating users. We find that although equally rational agents may be assisted by inoculation interventions to reject misinformation, even among such agents, intervention efficacy is temporally sensitive. We find that as beliefs disseminate, users form self-reinforcing echo chambers, leading to belief consolidation—irrespective of their veracity. Interrupting this process requires ‘front-loading’ of inoculation interventions by targeting critical thresholds of network users before consolidation occurs. We further demonstrate the value of harnessing tipping point dynamics for herd immunity effects, and note that inoculation processes do not necessarily lead to increased rates of ‘false-positive’ rejections of truthful communications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T16:12:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9a6c74b1972748498d5553ac5510178b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T16:12:33Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-9a6c74b1972748498d5553ac5510178b2023-04-24T09:17:22ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032022-08-019810.1098/rsos.211953Psychological inoculation can reduce susceptibility to misinformation in large rational agent networksToby D. Pilditch0Jon Roozenbeek1Jens Koed Madsen2Sander van der Linden3School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UKCambridge Social Decision-Making Laboratory, Department of Psychology, School of Biology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3RQ, UKDepartment of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics, Kings Way, London, WC2A 2AE, UKCambridge Social Decision-Making Laboratory, Department of Psychology, School of Biology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3RQ, UKThe unchecked spread of misinformation is recognized as an increasing threat to public, scientific and democratic health. Online networks are a contributing cause of this spread, with echo chambers and polarization indicative of the interplay between the search behaviours of users and reinforcement processes within the system they inhabit. Recent empirical work has focused on interventions aimed at inoculating people against misinformation, yielding success on the individual level. However, given the evolving, dynamic information context of online networks, important questions remain regarding how such inoculation interventions interact with network systems. Here we use an agent-based model of a social network populated with belief-updating users. We find that although equally rational agents may be assisted by inoculation interventions to reject misinformation, even among such agents, intervention efficacy is temporally sensitive. We find that as beliefs disseminate, users form self-reinforcing echo chambers, leading to belief consolidation—irrespective of their veracity. Interrupting this process requires ‘front-loading’ of inoculation interventions by targeting critical thresholds of network users before consolidation occurs. We further demonstrate the value of harnessing tipping point dynamics for herd immunity effects, and note that inoculation processes do not necessarily lead to increased rates of ‘false-positive’ rejections of truthful communications.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211953misinformationinoculation theorycomplex systemsbelief updating |
| spellingShingle | Toby D. Pilditch Jon Roozenbeek Jens Koed Madsen Sander van der Linden Psychological inoculation can reduce susceptibility to misinformation in large rational agent networks Royal Society Open Science misinformation inoculation theory complex systems belief updating |
| title | Psychological inoculation can reduce susceptibility to misinformation in large rational agent networks |
| title_full | Psychological inoculation can reduce susceptibility to misinformation in large rational agent networks |
| title_fullStr | Psychological inoculation can reduce susceptibility to misinformation in large rational agent networks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Psychological inoculation can reduce susceptibility to misinformation in large rational agent networks |
| title_short | Psychological inoculation can reduce susceptibility to misinformation in large rational agent networks |
| title_sort | psychological inoculation can reduce susceptibility to misinformation in large rational agent networks |
| topic | misinformation inoculation theory complex systems belief updating |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211953 |
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