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Decoding Deception: The Psychology of Combating Misinformation
The world is in a battle for truth. A cadre of researchers is eagerly seeking ways to stymie the spread of mis- and disinformation. The stakes are high.
This film was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
October 29, 2024
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/NoI8QzUAeiA?si=gh8NDLz2uv3Ofs6o
Social media have become an accelerant for the spread of misinformation about everything from climate change to public health to politics. The rise of generative AI is making the problem even more intractable. Left unchecked, misinformation will do real damage to people and institutions. But now, interdisciplinary researchers are coming together to pinpoint the nature of this infodemic and seek solutions. Surefire remedies remain elusive, but their insights could be crucial. The stakes are high: Nothing less than shared sense of truth.
View related content in PNAS:
How to mitigate misinformation
Stymieing the deceptive notes and news that spread with reckless abandon via social media may require a new approach–or several of them.
Finding a vaccine for misinformation
With deliberate deception a growing threat online, social scientists are devising ways to fight back with “cognitive inoculations”
The genuine problem of fake news
Intentionally deceptive news has co-opted social media to go viral and influence millions. Science and technology can suggest why and how. But can they offer solutions?
Research Papers Mentioned in the Film:
J.B. Bak-Coleman et al. Combining interventions to reduce the spread of viral misinformation, Nat Hum Behav, 6, 1372-1380 (2022). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01388-6
G. Ceylan et al. Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased, PNAS, 120, 1-8 (2023). https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2216614120
J. Roozenbeek et al. Psychological inoculation improves resilience against misinformation on social media, Sci. Adv. 8, 1-11 (2022). https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abo6254
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