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Fake news game confers psychological resistance against online misinformation

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThe spread of online misinformation poses serious challenges to societies worldwide. In a novel attempt to address this issue, we designed a psychological intervention in the form of an online browser game. In the game, players take on the role of a fake news producer and learn to master six documented techniques commonly used in the production of misinformation: polarisation, invoking emotions, spreading conspiracy theories, trolling people online, deflecting blame, and impersonating fake accounts. The game draws on an inoculation metaphor, where preemptively exposing, warning, and familiarising people with the strategies used in the production of fake news helps confer cognitive immunity when exposed to real misinformation. We conducted a large-scale evaluation of the game with jats:italicN</jats:italic> = 15,000 participants in a pre-post gameplay design. We provide initial evidence that people’s ability to spot and resist misinformation improves after gameplay, irrespective of education, age, political ideology, and cognitive style.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

46 Information and Computing Sciences, 4701 Communication and Media Studies, 4608 Human-Centred Computing, 47 Language, Communication and Culture, Clinical Research

Journal Title

Palgrave Communications

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2055-1045
2055-1045

Volume Title

5

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC