Study of thousands shows a simple online game works like a 'vaccine', increasing skepticism of fake news by giving people a “weak dose” of the methods behind disinformation.

This might be one for the journalism/media teachers, but I thought I'd share this with the wider community here. Here's the full article from the University of Cambridge, below are a few excerpts I found interesting. There's also a link to the game in the article, or you can go directly there right here.

“Research suggests that fake news spreads faster and deeper than the truth, so combatting disinformation after-the-fact can be like fighting a losing battle,” said Dr Sander van der Linden, Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab.

“We wanted to see if we could pre-emptively debunk, or ‘pre-bunk’, fake news by exposing people to a weak dose of the methods used to create and spread disinformation, so they have a better understanding of how they might be deceived.

“This is a version of what psychologists call ‘inoculation theory’, with our game working like a psychological vaccination.”

[Later in the article]

The study, published today in the journal Palgrave Communications, showed the perceived reliability of fake news before playing the game had reduced by an average of 21% after completing it. Yet the game made no difference to how users ranked real news.

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I want to try this out with my students this fall.

Submitted July 14, 2019 at 06:34AM by AntaresBounder https://ift.tt/2YTcoVE