Thinking clearly about misinformation

2024/01/05 by Li Qian Tay, Stephan Lewandowsky, Mark J. Hurlstone +2 · 1 voice · 21 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Epistemology #Law #Media Influence and Health #Misinformation #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Philosophy #Political science #Psychology #Social psychology #Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s44271-023-00054-5

published in Communications Psychology 2(1), 4

openalex publication_date 2024/01/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

In Western societies, misinformation concern is at an all-time high. Recently, however, debate has ensued regarding the level of concern that is warranted. Some researchers note the potential for misinformation to incur significant costs on individuals and societies, and call for interventions to reduce misinformation susceptibility and impacts 1 , 2 . Others warn against alarmist narratives, arguing that misinformation exerts only limited influence over beliefs and behaviours. This view proposes that problematic behaviours, such as vaccine hesitancy, are caused by systemic socio-economic and psycho-social issues, and thus calls for interventions to target those societal issues rather than misinformation creation and consumption, which represent only symptoms of these deeper issues 3 . Similarly, assuming low prevalence of misinformation, researchers have argued that interventions should focus on increasing trust in factual information 4 .

Citations

• Beyond misinformation: Understanding and coping with the “post-truth” era.
• ANALYSIS OF A CIRCULAR WAVEGUIDE CAVITY LOADED WITH THICK MAGNETIZED FERRITE DISKS

Cited by

• Fact‐checking election‐campaign misinformation: Impacts on noncommitted voters' feelings and behavior
• Misinformation poses a bigger threat to democracy than you might think
• Nudge-based misinformation interventions are effective in information environments with low misinformation prevalence. [europepmc]
• Don't believe them! Reducing misinformation influence through source discreditation. [europepmc]
• A focus shift in the evaluation of misinformation interventions. [europepmc]
• Modeling the amplification of epidemic spread by individuals exposed to misinformation on social media. [europepmc]
• Did he or didn't he? Mixed evidence for the continued influence of retracted misinformation on person impressions. [europepmc]
• Trust in institutions and misinformation susceptibility both independently explain vaccine skepticism. [europepmc]
• Exposure to health misinformation, self-care confidence and delayed care-seeking among adults in the UK: a cross-sectional survey [europepmc]

Discussions

• Tay et al. (2024): thinking clearly about misinformation. (doi.org/10.1038/s442...). We address the simplistic binary view that misinformation either causes adverse behaviours or is a symptom of some [bsky, 32 points, 2 comments]

Related

• Misinformation and Its Correction
• Why misinformation must not be ignored.
• Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world
• Seeking Formula for Misinformation Treatment in Public Health Crises: The Effects of Corrective Information Type and Source
• Countering Misinformation