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John Cook
Global Change Institute, University of Queensland
Web: http://www.skeptialsiene.o!
"!ail: #ohn$skeptialsiene.o!
%hone: &'( ) **'+ *++*
Myth DebunkingA Tool for Education & ScienceCommunication
Ullrich EckerCognitive Science Laboratories The University of !estern Australia
"ohn Cook#lobal Change $nstitute The University of %ueensland
Stehan Le'ando'sky
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Coyright
( Ecker Cook & Le'ando'sky )*+,*-ullrich.ecker/u'a.edu.au
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The Authors
Dr Ullrich Ecker is an Australian 9ostdoctoral :ello' funded by the Australian 8esearch Council at theUniversity of Australia;s School of 9sychology.
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A 8evie'3 Le'ando'sky et al.)*+,*- in Psychological Science in
the Public InterestFor an authoritative review of the literature on misinformation, please see:Lewandowsky, cker, Seifert, Schwar!, " #ook $%&'%() *isinformation and its correction:#ontinued in+uence and successful debiasing) Psychological Science in the Public Interest,
13, '&-'.')
Abstract:The 'idesread revalence and ersistence of misinformation in contemorary societies such as the falsebelief that there is a link bet'een childhood vaccinations and autism is a matter of ublic concern. :or eamle themyths surrounding vaccinations 'hich romted some arents to 'ithhold immuni>ation from their children have led
to a marked increase in vaccine0reventable disease as 'ell as unnecessary ublic eenditure on research andublic0information camaigns aimed at rectifying the situation.
!e 7rst eamine the mechanisms by 'hich such misinformation is disseminated in society both inadvertently andurosely. Misinformation can originate from rumors but also from 'orks of 7ction governments and oliticians andvested interests. Moreover changes in the media landscae including the arrival of the $nternet have fundamentallyinuenced the 'ays in 'hich information is communicated and misinformation is sread.
!e net move to misinformation at the level of the individual and revie' the cognitive factors that often rendermisinformation resistant to correction. !e consider ho' eole assess the truth of statements and 'hat makes eolebelieve certain things but not others. !e look at eole;s memory for misinformation and ans'er the Buestions of 'hyretractions of misinformation are so ineective in memory udating and 'hy eorts to retract misinformation can even
back7re and ironically increase misbelief. Though ideology and ersonal 'orldvie's can be ma@or obstacles fordebiasing there nonetheless are a number of eective techniBues for reducing the imact of misinformation and 'eay secial attention to these factors that aid in debiasing.
!e conclude by roviding seci7c recommendations for the debunking of misinformation. These recommendationsertain to the 'ays in 'hich corrections should be designed structured and alied in order to maimi>e their imact.#rounded in cognitive sychological theory these recommendations may hel ractitioners5including @ournalistshealth rofessionals educators and science communicators5design eective misinformation retractions educationaltools and ublic0information camaigns.
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Misinformation3 !hy is it imortant
Decisions are based on information
Misinformation leads to bad decisions
Simle retractions of misinformationare ineFcient
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$neFcient 8etractions
Eamle ,- USA *++23 Many tentative media reorts of
!MD discoveries during $raB invasion
- All retracted- 1onetheless substantial roortion of
oulace continued to believe that !MD;s hadbeen found )?ull et al. *++2-
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Eamle *- U? ,GGH3 Claim that a certain vaccine causes
autism
- 8etracted- 1onetheless substantial and long0lasting dro
in vaccination rates leading to hositali>ationand even death of many children )='ens *++*I 9oland& "acobsen *+,,-
$neFcient 8etractions
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Jmaybe eole missed the
retraction
Lab research sho's that eolecontinue to rely on misinformationeven- 'hen they understand the retraction
- 'hen they correctly remember the retraction
- 'hen they have no reason to believe one event versionor the other
)Ecker et al. *+,+ *+,,a *+,,bI "ohnson & Seifert ,GGK-
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Eamle)Ecker et al. *+,,bI "ohnson & Seifert ,GGKI !ilkes & Leatherbarro' ,GHH-
9eole 7rst read3- J1egligent storage of gas cylinders caused a
7reJ
Then the retraction3- J9olice have con7rmed there 'as no
evidence of gas cylinders or negligencecausing the 7reJ
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Eamle) Ecker et al. *+,,b-
Nerbatim resonses of a erson tolater Buestions3- !hat 'as the content of the olice
message That there !ere no gas cylinders in"ol"ed#$
- !hat caused the elosions
The gas cylinders#$
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!hy
!hy do eole 7nd it diFcult tounlearn i.e. removemisinformation
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etrations Create a Gap
*Y/0
1emovinga myth leavesa gap
2eople hate gaps38emovedmisinformation is
actually still inmemory and eole
use it even 'hen theykno' it is 'rongQ
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ill the Gap
FACT
1eplacewith alternativenarrative
45nless4
The ga can be7lled 'ith lausible
alternativeinformation
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Eamle)Ecker et al. *+,,bI "ohnson & Seifert ,GGK-
9eole 7rst read3- J1egligent storage of gas cylinders caused a
7reJ
Then a retraction including acausal alternative3- J9olice have con7rmed there 'as no
evidence of gas cylinders or negligencecausing the 7reJ
- 64but arson materials have beenfound47
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+
,
*
2
K
O
1o08etraction
8etraction
8etractionPAlternative
8eferencestoa9ieceof)M
is-$nformation
Continued $nuence after a 8etractionEcker et al. )*+,,a-
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"le!ent ( of an "ffetive 0ebunking
Create a
ga 'ith aretraction
:ill the ga
'ith afactual
alternative
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The Curiosity #a
$f you retract a myth in someone;shead the ga is obvious.
Rut sometimes eole are una'areof their kno'ledge gas.
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%ight sticky
ideas !ith
stickier ideas#$The Curiosity#a3#enerate
curiosity byointing outkno'ledge
gasI then 7llthose gas
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Create aga 'ith aretraction
:ill the ga'ith afactual
alternative
9oint out a ga
to generatecuriosity
:ill the ga
'ithans'ers toBuestions
"le!ent ( of an "ffetive 0ebunking
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8etractions can back7re
The last thing you 'ant is to makethings 'orseQ
A fe' rinciles should guideretractions
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1he a!iliarity
2akfire "ffet
Debunking amyth can
reinforce themyth in eole;sminds)Sch'ar> et al. *++-
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The :amiliarity Rack7reEect
!hen eole read- The side eects of the "accine are !orse than the
'u#$
:ollo'ed by- That(s a myth) the !orst side eect !ould be asore arm#$
!hat they may remember after a 'hile is3
- The "accine has side eects#$ This is because reeating the myth 'hen
retracting it makes it more familiar.
9eole remember and believe familiar things.( Ecker Cook & Le'ando'sky )*+,*-ullrich.ecker/u'a.edu.au
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1he a!iliarity 2akfire "ffet
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The :amiliarity Rack7reEect
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1he a!iliarity 2akfire "ffet
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Avoid the:amiliarityRack7reEect
Don;treeat the
mythsI givethe facts
"le!ent 3 of an "ffetive 0ebunking
$f the retraction needsto reeat themyth give an e8plicit warning before
giving the myth.
This uts eole into a more carefulrocessing mode and reduces
misinformation eects)Ecker et al. *+,+-
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I didnt have time
to write a short letter,
so I wrote a long oneinstead.
MA8?T!A$1
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Simlicity)Chater & Nitanyi *++2I Lombro>o *++ *++-
9eole have limited mental caacity
9eole hate comlicatedelanations- Comle elanations A lot of thinking
-Thinking is hard
9eole like simle elanations- Does not mean simlistic
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1he 4verkill 2akfire "ffet
*Y/0
FA#/ FA#/ FA#/
FA#/ FA#/ FA#/
FA#/ FA#/ FA#/
FA#/ FA#/ FA#/
*Y/0
A simle myth is more cognitivelyattractive than an over0comlicatedcorrection
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The =verkill Rack7re Eect
:ocus on the most imortantarguments.
Make things easy to understand.
Use simle language.
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1he 4verkill 2akfire "ffet
*Y/0
FA#/
FA#/
FA#/
FA#/
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Avoid the=verkill
Rack7reEect
:ocus on thebest
argumentsIkee itsimle
"le!ent * of an "ffetive 0ebunking
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ALRE8TE$1STE$1
Make things as
simple as possible(but not simpler).
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#etting the message across
Sometimes language is not the best'ay to communicate facts
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The Use of #rahs)1yhan & 8eier *+,,-
#rous of scientists from severalma@or institutions 5 1ASAVs #oddard$nstitute for Sace Studies the1ational =ceanic and AtmoshericAdministrationVs 1ational ClimaticData Center the "aanese
Meteorological Agency and the Met=Fce
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9ercent Agreement that #lobaltemeratures have decreased)in eole strongly identifying 'ith the 8eublican 9artyI 1yhan & 8eiWer *+,,-
+
*+
K+
Control
Tet
#rah
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The Use of #rahs
The same evidence can lead to a muchbigger reduction of misbeliefs ifresented grahically instead of )only-
verbally )1yhan & 8eier *+,,-
$nformation that runs counter to one;sbeliefs may be more readily acceted if
it is resented grahically)Le'ando'sky *+,,-- %uanti7cation reduces ambiguity
-This reduces counterarguing
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#rah design)Re'are of misleading grahsQ-
Make sure grah is designed roerly- Clearly labeled aes
- Aroriate referably non0truncated
scales- Using all available4relevant data )no
omitted data oints-
- 1o distortion )2D eects etc.-
- $ncluding inde of data variability )e.g. errorbars- 'here ossible
- 9rovide a source )reference-
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Avoidcommunicati
on barriers
Use grahs)or other
means- asaroriate
"le!ent 5 of an "ffetive 0ebunking
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Th ! ld i R k7
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The !orldvie' Rack7reEect
$f eole have strongattitudes
-They 'ill be less sketical
about attitude0congruentmisinformation and its source)Le'ando'sky et al. *++O-
- Attemts to correct a dearlyheld misbelief can cause
stronger misbelief
- Reliefs that are central toone;s identity 'ill be defended
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8eublicans 'ho believed Saddam
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Avoid aggressive inammatorylanguage
Messages can be framed to
aFrm 'orldvie'- Conservatives are more likely to accet
climate science 'hen olicy changes areframedas business oortunities for nuclear o'er
)cf. ?ahan *+,+-
Strong believers are diFcult toersuade even 'ith hard
evidence
The !orldvie' Rack7re Eect
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Avoid the!orldvie'
Rack7reEect
Targetma@orityI
aligncorrection to
reciient
"le!ent + of an "ffetive 0ebunking
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the Earth uit
warming and now we
ma! be in a "ooling"!"le.
(#.$. %epubli"an &ongressman ' %ohraba"her)
"6a!ple of a 0ebunking
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Core :act Elicit !arning
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g
Myth AlternativeElanation
Earth hasbeen buildingu heat for Kdecades at arate of *>le 'hileignoring the fullicture.
9eriods ofsurface coolingsho' thatglobal 'arminghas stoed.
Surface temerature@ums u and do'nbecause heat sloshes
around bet'een theocean andatmoshere.
1evertheless Earthcontinues to build u
heat.
etractionhat is incorrect.
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Mi i f ti
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$n education settings standard teaching racticesoften leave students; re0eisting misconcetionsintact.
$n this case misinformation and its refutation canbe useful as a teaching tool )cf. Redford *+,+I ?o'alski &
Taylor *++GI =sborne *+,+-
- The refutation of misinformation can rovide students'ho have no )or very limited- kno'ledge of a toic 'ith
an entry oint to build u kno'ledge- The refutation of misinformation can be used to develo
students; understanding of emirical science and fostersketical araisal of evidence and conclusions
Misinformation as aTeaching Tool
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Comared to a standard teaching format
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I!prove!entintestsore789
(
)+
+
;owalski < 1aylor 3=
1efutation
3+
Standard
Format
Comared to a standard teaching formathighlighting and refuting misconcetions in
the classroom can lead to a betterunderstanding of the sub@ect.
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Misinformation as a
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Misinformation as aTeaching Tool
Cave3 Using myth refutation as a teachingtool reBuires- SuFcient time to make sure refutation can be
thorough
- =en0mindedness and engagement in theYstudents;
=ther'ise risk of a Yfamiliarity back7re;
eect The suggestions ertaining to the design of
eective retractions should still be follo'ed
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Summary of
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Summary of8ecommendations
9rovide alternative elanation 'hen retracting amyth
:ocus on facts and evidence
Avoid reeating the myths )unless thorough
refutation is ossibleI e.g. in classroom-
:ocus on the best arguments
Use simle language
Use informative 'ell0designed grahs
Avoid aggressionI align corrections 'ith reciients;'orldvie's as much as ossible
Target non0radical ma@ority
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:or a revie' see Le'ando'sky et al.
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:or a revie' see Le'ando'sky et al.)*+,*- article in PsychologicalScience in the Public Interest
available at3
htt344si.sageub.com4content4,242.toc
( Ecker Cook & Le'ando'sky )*+,*-ullrich.ecker/u'a.edu.au
:or more literature &enBuiries lease
visit'''.cogsci'a.com
:or a brief summary see Cook &
Le'ando'sky;s )*+,,- Debunking-andbook available at3htt344sks.to4debunk
8eferences
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8eferences Redford D. )*+,+-. Agnotology as a teaching tool3 Learning climate science by studying misinformation..ournal of /eogra0hy) 123 ,OG0,O.
Chater 1. & Nitanyi 9. )*++2-. Simlicity3 a unifying rincile in cognitive science. Trends in Cogniti"e Sciences) 4 ,G0**.
Church ". et al. )*+,,-. 8evisiting the EarthVs sea0level and energy budgets from ,G, to *++H. /eo0hysical 5esearch 6etters) American/eo0hysical 7nion) 89 ,H+,.
Ecker U. ?. ulletin & 5e"ie!) 19) O+0OH.
iology rganiGation 5e0orts) 8) K+0K+G.
9oland #. A. & "acobsen 8. M. )*+,,-. The age0old struggle against the antivaccinationists. The e! England .ournal of Medicine) 8