Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy.
Cogn Process. 2022 Aug;23(3):367-378. doi: 10.1007/s10339-022-01093-2. Epub 2022 May 18.
People may cling to false facts even in the face of updated and correct information. The present study confronted misconceptions about the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and a novel, fictitious Zika vaccine. Two experiments are reported, examining misconceptions as motivated by a poor risk understanding (Experiment 1, N = 130) or the exposure to conspiracy theories (Experiment 2, N = 130). Each experiment featured a Misinformation condition, wherein participants were presented with fictitious stories containing some misinformation (Experiment 1) and rumours focused on conspiracy theories (Experiment 2) that were later retracted by public health experts and a No misinformation condition, containing no reference to misinformation and rumours. Across experiments, participants were more hesitant towards vaccines when exposed to stories including vaccine misinformation. Notwithstanding, our results suggest a positive impact of a trusted source communicating the scientific consensus about vaccines. Zika virus represents a particular case showing how missing information can easily evolve into misinformation. Implications for effective dissemination of information are discussed.
人们即使面对更新和正确的信息，也可能坚持错误的事实。本研究针对麻疹、腮腺炎和风疹疫苗和一种新型虚构的寨卡疫苗的误解进行了研究。报告了两项实验，分别检验了因风险理解不足（实验 1，N=130）或接触阴谋论（实验 2，N=130）而产生的误解。每个实验都有一个错误信息条件，其中参与者被提供包含一些错误信息的虚构故事（实验 1）和集中在阴谋论上的谣言（实验 2），这些谣言后来被公共卫生专家辟谣。在没有错误信息的条件下，没有提到错误信息和谣言。在两个实验中，当参与者接触到包含疫苗错误信息的故事时，他们对疫苗的态度更加犹豫不决。尽管如此，我们的结果表明，一个可信的消息来源传达疫苗的科学共识会产生积极的影响。寨卡病毒就是一个特殊的例子，它表明了信息缺失是如何很容易演变成错误信息的。讨论了有效传播信息的影响。
