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Examining the replicability of backfire effects after standalone corrections
Toby Prike1, Phoebe Blackley2, Briony Swire-Thompson3,4
1School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. toby.prike@uwa.edu.au.
Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications
|July 3, 2023
Summary
Standalone corrections, used to combat misinformation, do not appear to cause a familiarity backfire effect. However, skepticism towards corrections may lead to increased belief in false claims, warranting further research.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Communication Studies
- Information Science
Background:
- Corrections are vital for combating misinformation.
- Concerns exist that corrections might inadvertently increase belief in novel misinformation due to familiarity.
- This phenomenon is termed the familiarity backfire effect.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if standalone corrections (without prior misinformation exposure) can cause a familiarity backfire effect.
- To assess if corrections increase reliance on misinformation in inferential reasoning compared to a control group.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments with 1156 participants were conducted.
- Standalone corrections were presented without initial misinformation exposure.
- Participants' reliance on misinformation was measured immediately and after a one-week delay.
Main Results:
- Standalone corrections did not cause a backfire effect immediately or after a one-week delay.
- Experiment 3 showed mixed evidence of a backfire effect when skepticism towards the correction was present, specifically in open-ended responses.
- This backfire effect in Experiment 3 did not replicate with rating scales.
Conclusions:
- Standalone corrections do not appear to induce a familiarity backfire effect.
- Skepticism towards corrections may be a potential mechanism for backfire effects, but requires further investigation.
- Future research should focus on skepticism as a replicable factor in correction backfire effects.
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