Correcting Misinformation
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A Knowledge of correcting misinformation accumulated unevenly across social media, news and public discussion. A striking report could establish that a pattern existed, yet it could not show whether continued influence operated elsewhere. Researchers examining correcting misinformation therefore moved toward shared definitions and planned comparisons based on randomised message tests rather than discarding the earlier record. B For the present account of correcting misinformation, false claims can remain influential after correction, especially when they fit an existing explanation or identity. In communication science, the term prebunking refers to warning people about a misleading technique before they encounter it. The definition gives researchers a common starting point for discussing correcting misinformation, but it does not identify a cause by itself. Two observations of correcting misinformation can share the label prebunking while differing in scale, timing or origin. C Researchers rely chiefly on randomised message tests to investigate correcting misinformation. Research on correcting misinformation has found that participants see different corrections and later answer questions about accuracy, belief and memory. They decide their comparison, exclusions and outcome measures for correcting misinformation in advance. A result about correcting misinformation is treated as stronger when it survives more than one source of evidence, not simply when one instrument measuring correcting misinformation reports many decimal places. D The evidence about correcting misinformation is informative but conditional. One point relevant to correcting misinformation is that clear corrections usually improve factual accuracy, and an alternative explanation often helps replace the false account. Researchers test continued influence as an explanation. Evidence reviewed for correcting misinformation shows that a familiar false claim can still shape reasoning even after a person remembers that it was corrected. Confidence in continued influence rises when independent measures of correcting misinformation agree and rival explanations fail, rather than when a single comparison happens to be statistically precise. E Interpretation of correcting misinformation must stop short of a universal claim. For the present account of correcting misinformation, a laboratory belief rating may not predict sharing or action, and corrections from a distrusted source may be rejected. Future work on correcting misinformation is organised around behaviour-linked trials. For future research on correcting misinformation, behaviour-linked trials will measure later sharing and decisions, not only immediate agreement. This use of behaviour-linked trials targets a specific uncertainty about correcting misinformation rather than merely increasing the volume of data. F Practical programmes translate evidence about correcting misinformation into action. The discussion of correcting misinformation notes that communicators lead with the fact, explain the error, provide a replacement account and avoid unnecessary repetition. Their stated focus is factual accuracy. Teams working on correcting misinformation compare later outcomes with conditions before implementation and record unintended effects. This evaluation of correcting misinformation determines whether the original explanation involving continued influence remains useful outside the research setting.