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Misinformation & Education

The proliferation of misinformation and disinformation is increasingly recognized as a major threat to society, undermining public trust and informed decision-making—so much so that experts have labeled it an “infodemic.” We study cost-effective, scalable interventions to curb the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories online. One of our studies found that modifying the social media interface by adding a Misleading count next to the Like count significantly reduced users’ likelihood of sharing inaccurate partisan content, even among extreme partisans (Pretus et al., 2024). This intervention was about five times more effective than the widely used accuracy nudge approach. In another study, we examined strategies to protect against anti-science beliefs and disinformation (see “Climate Change” for more details). We also study how changes to people's immediate social media following networks can reduce exposure to misinformation, decrease belief in falsehoods, and enhance trust in science (Rathje et al., forthcoming, Spampatti et al., in progress).

Center for Conflict and Cooperation

Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, Room 453, New York, NY 10003​

​​​Web design by Sarah Grevy Gotfredsen 

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