Goodsett, Mandi

Meszaros, Evan

English

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

Cleveland State University EngagedScholarship@CSU Michael Schwartz Library Publications Michael Schwartz Library 6-2022 Debunking & Prebunking: Strategies for Librarians to Eradicate Misinformation Evan Meszaros Case Western Reserve University, evan.meszaros@case.edu Mandi Goodsett Cleveland State University, a.goodsett@csuohio.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/msl_facpub  Part of the Adult and Continuing Education Commons, Educational Psychology Commons, Higher Education Commons, Information Literacy Commons, and the Social Psychology Commons How does access to this work benefit you? Let us know! Repository Citation Meszaros, Evan and Goodsett, Mandi, "Debunking & Prebunking: Strategies for Librarians to Eradicate Misinformation" (2022). Michael Schwartz Library Publications. 183. https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/msl_facpub/183 This Poster is brought to you for free and open access by the Michael Schwartz Library at EngagedScholarship@CSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Michael Schwartz Library Publications by an authorized administrator of EngagedScholarship@CSU. For more information, please contact library.es@csuohio.edu. Debunking & Prebunking: Strategies for Librarians to Eradicate MisinformationEvan Meszaros, MS, MA1 & Mandi Goodse3, MS, MEd21. Research Services Librarian | Kelvin Smith Library | Case Western Reserve University | Cleveland, OH2. Performing Arts & HumaniFes Librarian | Michael Schwartz Library | Cleveland State University | Cleveland, OHPlease visit https://tinyurl.com/librarybunking or use the QR code to see a full list of our sources.Introduc)on: What’s the Problem?•Misinformation about public health issues, climate change, gender, race, and many other topics abounds in our world today• Believing and acting on misinformation has a real impact on the health and well-being of individuals, our political structures, and society• Librarians are poised to be key players in helping to improve media literacy skills that can fight misinformation• To effectively address this challenge, librarians need to consult the growing literature from fields like psychology and education regarding the most effective strategies for fighting misinformationContext: Foundational Concepts• Continued Influence Effect: A phenomenon in which individuals continue to believe misinformation despite being presented with strong evidence disproving their erroneous beliefs•Mental Model Theory: Individuals create a mental model of an event or situation, and are reluctant to modify that model with new information when the existing belief has sufficient explanatory power for that event or situation•Motivated Reasoning Theory: Our minds strive for consistency, and corrective information that challenges one’s worldview or social identity is often met with motivated reasoning to explain away the new evidence• Social Influences: Humans rely on societal contexts to determine the credibility of a source to judge its reliabilityDebunking StrategiesA strong correc@ve message:ü Is logical, simple, and clearü Explains why the misinformaIon existsü Points out credibility flaws in the misinformaIon’s source — this may be more effecIve than poinIng out strengths of the credibility of accurateinformaIonPrebunking Strategies• Primary strategies are based on inoculation theory: exposing people to a small dose of misinformation in a controlled environment so they can detect it more effectively in real world contextsImplica)ons for Library Workers• Shift focus away from providing lists of ways to identify misinformation• This is not consistent with how we understand knowledge revision to work, especially when the lists are presented with little context• Once misinformation has been integrated into someone’s mental model, they will disregard such lists as being relevant to them• Carefully consider your wordingWhen offering educational events or programs about a topic that is a common target of misinformation, carefully consider what worldview your audience might have — are there ways to frame the issue that will both explain a faulty belief they may have and replace it in with an alternative?• Increase use of inoculation techniques• Share examples and strategies of how people might try to manipulate others using misinformation• Keep things vague enough to raise skepticism, but not train others how to participate in such manipulation• Consider long-term strategies too, such as improving students’ / patrons’ information literacy skillsHelp patrons understand how information is created; this can help avoid the trap of patrons becoming overly skeptical, to the point of cynicism (which can be a gateway to conspiracy theory thinking)℞•Issue-based inoculation focuses on misinformation that is commonly shared about a particular issue (e.g. vaccines, GMOs, climate change, etc.) • Technique-based inoculation instead focuses on common strategies used to share misinformation across many issues•Misinformation dissemination strategies to inoculate againstinclude: impersonation, emotion, polarization, conspiracy, discredit, and trolling (see chart to the left)• Gamified implementations of inoculation theory are common• All strategies are more effective when paired with information / media literacy skills• In general, multiple prebunking strategies are more effective than any single approach℞              ⚕Diagnosis: Climate DenialismRemedy: Corrective statement:The scientific consensus is that human-caused climate change is happening. Large fossil fuel companies have a vested interest in convincing the public that climate change isn’t happening so that they can continue making huge profits. They have used many tactics to spread this false narrative of climate denialism, all in service of their own interests.Repeat exposure 3× daily.Date: 6/25/’22Dr. U. R. Cured, MDü Is consistent with the interlocutor’s worldviewü Is repeatedü Considers the interlocutor’s partisan beliefs, which may interfere with the reception of the messageImpersonationImpersonating a real person or organization; falsely posing as a legitimate news site or as an expert in a particular subjectEmotionUsing content that deliberately plays on emotions like fear, anger, empathy, or vindicationPolarizationDeliberately trying to divide viewers along lines of political ideologyConspiracyUsing content that promotes the belief that events are organized by secret groups or organizationsDiscreditAttacking the person sharing a claim or argument rather than addressing the validity of the claimTrolling Deliberately evoking emotional responses from viewers using baitMisinforma*on Dissemina*on Techniques to Watch For• Gamify!Use existing or new games to draw people in, and raise their skepticismQues)ons or Comments?ReferencesWe welcome your questions or comments about our poster! Please feel free to contact us at:• Evan Meszaros — evan.meszaros@case.edu — 216-368-3509• Mandi Goodsett — a.goodsett@csuohio.edu — 216-802-3362Go Viral: www.goviralgame.comHarmony Square: h8ps://harmonysquare.gameBad News: www.getbadnews.comCranky Uncle: h8ps://crankyuncle.comTweet content for “Conspiracy” and “Trolling” created by Roozenbeek & van der LindenOpenClipArt: h.ps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clipboard_01.svgImage credit: www.zazzle.comImage credit: https://covid19.gachd.org/vaccine/The corrective statement should be repeated for best effectThe focus on f.f. companies may resonate with the audience’s worldviewPresents a true claim, rather than repeating a false onePoints out problems with the source of the mis-informationExplains whythe mis-information exists

Debunking & Prebunking: Strategies for Librarians to Eradicate Misinformation

https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1198&context=msl_facpub

Debunking & Prebunking: Strategies for Librarians to Eradicate Misinformation

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