Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Calvillo, Dustin P.
• Harris, Justin D.
• Wang, Qi

Titel

Exposure to Headlines as Questions Reduces Illusory Truth for Subsequent Headlines

Ist Teil von

• Journal of applied research in memory and cognition, 2023-09, Vol.12 (3), p.335-343

Ort / Verlag

Washigton: Educational Publishing Foundation

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Quelle

EBSCOhost APA PsycARTICLES

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The illusory truth effect occurs when exposure to information increases belief in it. This effect highlights one concern about the prevalence of misinformation: that exposure to it increases belief in it. To combat this, social media platforms have employed fact-checkers to label misinformation. These fact-checks are effective in reducing belief in misinformation. Some fact-checkers, however, post headlines without clear truth labels on these platforms. For example, the fact-checker Snopes posted, "Did Mark Zuckerberg Post About Orgies on Little James Island?" Posting questions that do not explicitly state that the information is false may increase belief in that information. Two experiments examined this possibility. In both experiments, exposure to questions did not increase belief. Furthermore, exposure to questions decreased the illusory truth effect in subsequent statements. These findings suggest that posting false headlines as questions is not harmful and could be beneficial because it may focus readers' attention on accuracy. General Audience Summary Exposure to information increases belief in it. In the context of social media, if a user sees false headlines on their feed, they may subsequently believe them more than they would if they did not see them. Social media platforms have implemented fact-checks to clearly label false headlines. These fact-checks are effective at reducing subsequent belief in false information. More recently, some fact-checkers have posted questions on social media feeds. For example, the fact-checker Snopes posted, "Did Mark Zuckerberg Post About Orgies on Little James Island" without labeling that this did not happen. What effect does exposure to a post like this have on people who do not click to read whether or not this is true? The present study examined this question. In two experiments, participants were exposed to true and false headlines in the form of statements and questions. Next, they were asked to rate the truth of those headlines and of new headlines. Compared to new headlines, exposure to headlines as statements increased belief, whereas exposure to headlines as questions did not. Therefore, posting false headlines as questions is not harmful. Furthermore, after being exposed to questions prior to statements, participants did not show an increase in their subsequent belief in those statements. These results suggest that posting false headlines as questions may be beneficial in reducing the effects of exposure on belief. It may be that exposure to questions focuses participants on the accuracy of subsequent information.