ULR 7369-URePSSS-Unité de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire Sport Santé Société, Sherpas, Université de Lille, Université d'Artois, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, Liévin, France.
Department of Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
Sci Rep. 2023 Mar 9;13(1):3958. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-30867-7.
The present online intervention promoted family-based prosocial values-in terms of helping family members-among young adults to build resistance against fake news. This preregistered randomized controlled trial study is among the first psychological fake news interventions in Eastern Europe, where the free press is weak and state-sponsored misinformation runs riot in mainstream media. In this intervention, participants were endowed with an expert role and requested to write a letter to their digitally less competent relatives explaining six strategies that help fake news recognition. Compared to the active control group there was an immediate effect (d = 0.32) that persisted until the follow-up four weeks later (d = 0.22) on fake news accuracy ratings of the young, advice-giving participants. The intervention also reduced the bullshit receptivity of participants both immediately after the intervention and in the long run. The present work demonstrates the power of using relevant social bonds for motivating behavior change among Eastern European participants. Our prosocial approach with its robust grounding in human psychology might complement prior interventions in the fight against misinformation.
本在线干预措施促进了年轻人基于家庭的亲社会价值观（帮助家庭成员），以建立对虚假新闻的抵抗力。这项预先注册的随机对照试验研究是东欧首例心理学虚假新闻干预措施之一，在东欧，新闻自由薄弱，国家支持的错误信息在主流媒体中泛滥。在这项干预措施中，参与者被赋予了专家角色，并被要求给数字能力较弱的亲戚写一封信，解释有助于识别虚假新闻的六种策略。与积极对照组相比，干预组对年轻的、提供建议的参与者的虚假新闻准确性评价有即时影响（d=0.32），这种影响持续到四周后的随访（d=0.22）。干预措施还降低了参与者在干预后立即和长期的“胡说八道接受度”。本研究证明了利用相关社会关系来激励东欧参与者行为改变的力量。我们的亲社会方法在人类心理学中有坚实的基础，可能会补充对抗错误信息的先前干预措施。
