Accuracy¶
Accuracy in misinformation research refers to the factual correctness of information and people's judgments about whether statements are true. While people generally value accuracy, studies show a disconnect between accuracy judgments and sharing behavior on social media.
Key phenomena¶
Accuracy-sharing disconnect: People accurately judge the truthfulness of headlines but do not sufficiently weight accuracy when deciding what to share. This gap arises from limited attention to accuracy relative to other factors (engagement potential, partisan alignment, social signaling).
Accuracy nudges: Simple interventions that increase salience of accuracy substantially improve sharing behavior by redirecting limited attention.
Key videos¶
- Accuracy, Reasoning, and Misinformation — Describes multi-year research program finding that reasoning (not motivated reasoning) enables accuracy discrimination; accuracy-nudge interventions (simply asking people to evaluate one headline's accuracy) more than double their subsequent discrimination between true and false headlines; scalable approach that leverages individual agency rather than relying on platforms or fact-checkers
Key papers¶
- Pennycook et al. (2021) — Shifting attention to accuracy can reduce misinformation online — Demonstrates large effects of accuracy judgments on stated importance of sharing accurate news, but only modest effects on actual sharing intentions without intervention; accuracy nudges substantially close the gap
- Pennycook & Rand (2020) — Fighting COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media — Accuracy reminders triple truth discernment on sharing tasks in COVID-19 context
- Guess et al. (2020) — A digital media literacy intervention increases discernment between mainstream and false news — Media literacy training improves accuracy discernment between mainstream and false news sources
Related topics¶
- Attention — why accuracy judgments don't always drive behavior
- Fact-checking and corrections — assessing and communicating accuracy
- Misinformation — broader problem that accuracy-focused interventions address