Apr 15, 2022 05:36 PM
https://www.studyfinds.org/believe-lies-...ventually/
EXCERPTS: Have you ever heard something untrue today but said, “I could see that happening one day”? A new study finds misinformation is more likely to spread when people believe there’s still some truth in the lies they hear.
A team in London found people are more willing to overlook someone like a politician or a job applicant stretching the truth if they think what they’re saying could become a fact in the future. Further, people are less likely to find that lie unethical if they believe its broader message.
“The rise in misinformation is a pressing societal problem, stoking political polarization and eroding trust in business and politics. Misinformation in part persists because some people believe it. But that’s only part of the story,” explains lead author Beth Anne Helgason, a doctoral student at the London Business School, in a media release. “Misinformation also persists because sometimes people know it is false but are still willing to excuse it.”
The team recruited 3,600 people to take part in six different experiments. In each study, people read a variety of statements, some that were completely false, and had to predict whether some of the statements could come true at a later date.
[...] “Our findings reveal how our capacity for imagination affects political disagreement and our willingness to excuse misinformation,” Helgason concludes. “Unlike claims about what is true, propositions about what might become true are impossible to fact-check. Thus, partisans who are certain that a lie will become true eventually may be difficult to convince otherwise.” (MORE - missing details)
PAPER: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releas...000308.pdf
EXCERPTS: Have you ever heard something untrue today but said, “I could see that happening one day”? A new study finds misinformation is more likely to spread when people believe there’s still some truth in the lies they hear.
A team in London found people are more willing to overlook someone like a politician or a job applicant stretching the truth if they think what they’re saying could become a fact in the future. Further, people are less likely to find that lie unethical if they believe its broader message.
“The rise in misinformation is a pressing societal problem, stoking political polarization and eroding trust in business and politics. Misinformation in part persists because some people believe it. But that’s only part of the story,” explains lead author Beth Anne Helgason, a doctoral student at the London Business School, in a media release. “Misinformation also persists because sometimes people know it is false but are still willing to excuse it.”
The team recruited 3,600 people to take part in six different experiments. In each study, people read a variety of statements, some that were completely false, and had to predict whether some of the statements could come true at a later date.
[...] “Our findings reveal how our capacity for imagination affects political disagreement and our willingness to excuse misinformation,” Helgason concludes. “Unlike claims about what is true, propositions about what might become true are impossible to fact-check. Thus, partisans who are certain that a lie will become true eventually may be difficult to convince otherwise.” (MORE - missing details)
PAPER: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releas...000308.pdf