Stop being fooled by misinformation. Do this instead

(CNN) — Your phone pings. It’s a text from your credit card company — someone is trying to purchase a $2,500 laptop using your account number. Your frantic call to the provided number never reaches a real person, yet it’s not long before that disembodied voice asks you to enter your Social Security number. Would you fall for the scam?

Your doctor’s office emails. It’s past time for you to get your flu shot and Covid-19 booster, and it’s just fine to get them at the same time. But your friends on Facebook are suspicious, constantly sharing conspiracy theories on the misuse of vaccines. What do you believe?

Be it finance, health care or politics, there is a global “infodemic” of misinformation that is affecting people’s health and well-being, according to the World Health Organization. Rising to a crescendo during the pandemic, the backlash against Covid-19 vaccines and established medical science posed “a serious problem for public health,” according to WHO.

“People died of COVID in the hospital because they believed in conspiracy theories and refused to take antiviral medication and any type of Covid-19 treatment,” said Sander van der Linden, a professor of social psychology in society and director of the Social Decision-Making Lab at the University of Cambridge in the UK.

“And outside of Covid there’s plenty of documented cases where people refuse lifesaving cancer treatment because they believe in pseudo-scientific ideas or that some natural remedy is going to heal them.”

Misinformation and disinformation is everywhere, but there are scientifically tested methods that can keep you and your loved ones from falling for the latest falsehood, scam or conspiracy theory, according to a new report that the American Psychological Association released Wednesday.

“Misinformation can be accidental, sometimes intentional, but it’s misleading because it uses a logical fallacy, is heavily slanted or it’s missing context, even though there might be some grain of truth in there somewhere,” said van der Linden, lead author of the report. “Disinformation, however, is created and distributed intentionally to deceive or harm other people.”

Fighting back

Experts in the psychology of misinformation spent a year analyzing existing scientific literature on the topic to develop the report, which is titled “Using Psychological Science to Understand and Fight Health Misinformation: An APA Consensus Statement.” They found false information is more believable if it comes from groups people belong to, if they judge the source as credible, or if it stirs emotions such as fear and outrage.

Giving people a “nudge, defined as “small environmental changes meant to alter behavior in predictable and positive ways,” is a successful method of discouraging people from sharing fake information, according to the analysis.

“Accuracy nudges ask people to consider the veracity of information before sharing it, social norm nudges highlight community standards of behavior about reporting information, and motivational nudges reward people for being as accurate as possible,” the report said.

“To some degree, we are all susceptible to misinformation, even when we know better, because fact-checking for accuracy is such a difficult cognitive task,” said van der Linden, author of “Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects our Minds and How to Build Immunity.”

“You can protect yourself and your loved ones by learning about the techniques used to fool you so you can recognize them when you see them.”

Debunking and ‘prebunking’

Other effective counters involve correcting falsehoods by fact-checking or debunking and exposing people in advance to examples of misinformation and disinformation, the report said.

Fact-checking or debunking a statement or belief can be an effective way to counter falsehoods if it’s done by providing details on why the misinformation was incorrect. But it only goes so far.

“For most of the population who isn’t extreme in their attitudes, fact-checking and debunking reduces the degree to which people rely on falsehoods, but it doesn’t fully eliminate it,” van der Linden said. “That’s because once people are exposed to misinformation it becomes entangled with their personal beliefs and worldviews and becomes more difficult to correct.”

A more effective approach may be exposing people in advance to the techniques commonly used by social media and other scammers to earn their trust. This approach works much like a vaccine, van der Linden said.

“Prebunking, or inoculation, is very much about building resilience in people by actually giving people a preemptive dose of the tricks used to deceive people online,” he said. “Then when it actually happens to them in real life, people become relatively more immune to these tactics.”

Learn by playing

WHO adopted “Go Viral,” a free online game developed by University of Cambridge psychologists, as part of its campaign against misinformation. At the start of the game, you’re told to maximize your credibility by choosing the most manipulative options. As play continues, you learn that negative, emotionally charged attacks that boost fear and hostility earn the most likes.

“It allows you to step into the shoes of somebody who’s deceiving others online and adopt the tricks that they use, such as fearmongering about vaccines, getting people’s emotions riled up and using fake experts, people with no medical credentials, to float your own conspiracy theory,” van der Linden said.

In a similar game developed by Cambridge called “Bad News,” you learn that faking an important social media account, impersonating an important person and starting your own news site are key tactics of online fraudsters. Other modules expose the underbelly of trolls and the ease in which bots can spread lies meant to polarize people. In a 2021 study on “Bad News,” researchers found people playing the game were significantly less likely to believe fake news.

A video series by Cambridge researchers uses examples from “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut” to show how easy it is to manipulate beliefs by blaming others, a technique called scapegoating. Because their children want to do nothing but “fart and curse,” upset parents are told to “blame Canada!”

Another video uses a film in the “Star Wars” series to provide an example of a false dichotomy, a manipulation designed to make you feel as if you only have two choices, when in reality you have many. In “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” Anakin tells Obi-Wan, “If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy.” Obi-Wan’s response is perfect, the video says: “Only a Sith deals in absolutes.”

The video’s parting advice: “When things are too black and white, dare to be (gray)!”

All the material is free to use in classrooms and workshops, and experts hope exposing children to the tools will counter the impact of misinformation, van der Linden said. Research shows one thing’s clear, he added: It’s important to apply any evidence-based tools in a nonthreatening manner to maximize success.

“We’ll often start the conversation with directly threatening people and telling them what to believe,” he said. “But the literature shows you need to be more indirect if you want to be effective across the political spectrum.

“Instead of talking about immigration or abortion, talk about ‘Star Wars’ and ‘South Park’ as a starting point,” van der Linden said. “Then slowly move the conversation forward. Find examples that resonate with people, use trusted sources and respectful communication practices.”

The-CNN-Wire
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