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The ephemeral effects of fact-checks on COVID-19 misperceptions in the United States, Great Britain and Canada
- Source :
- Nature Human Behaviour
- Publication Year :
- 2022
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2022.
-
Abstract
- Widespread misperceptions about COVID-19 and the novel coronavirus threaten to exacerbate the severity of the pandemic. We conducted preregistered survey experiments in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada examining the effectiveness of fact-checks that seek to correct these false or unsupported misperceptions. Across three countries with differing levels of political conflict over the COVID-19 response, we demonstrate that fact-checks reduce targeted misperceptions, especially among the groups who are most vulnerable to these claims, and have minimal spillover effects on the accuracy of other beliefs about COVID-19. However, the positive effects of fact-checks on the accuracy of respondents’ beliefs fail to persist over time in panel data even after repeated exposure. These results suggest that fact-checks can successfully change the beliefs of the people who would benefit from them most but that their effects are disappointingly ephemeral.
- Subjects :
- Behavioral Neuroscience
Social Psychology
BF
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 23973374
- Volume :
- 6
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Nature Human Behaviour
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....94d2886c86ccab91b9a9506209303b5d