Publication
The increased perceived threat of conspiracy theories (CTs) and misinformation has led to research on strategies to reduce theirspread. One method is to encourage stronger critical scientific appraisal skills, known as the scientific reasoning intervention(SRI). This study examined whether the SRI could reduce CT endorsement and engagement with misinformation content withtargeted qualities (i.e., that do not overlap with CTs) in an online context through a simulated social media platform. After com-pleting baseline measures of CT endorsement and misinformation engagement, 184 participants were randomly allocated tothe SRI or control condition. A repeated measures analysis found people exposed to the SRI showed a lower endorsement of CTbeliefs and were less likely to positively engage (i.e., like/share) with false posts compared with the control group. The findingssuggest that the SRI can encourage some small reductions in CT endorsement and online engagement with misinformation.
NetSI authors
