https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/ncsu-wmc120720.php
News Release 7-Dec-2020
North Carolina State University
A recent study highlights two of the reasons that misinformation about COVID-19 is so difficult to tackle on social media: most people think they're above average at spotting misinformation; and misinformation often triggers negative emotions that resonate with people. The findings may help communicators share accurate information more effectively.
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One of the most powerful findings was that study participants overwhelmingly thought that other people were more vulnerable to misinformation. This phenomenon is known as the "third-person effect," which predicts that people perceive media messages as having a greater effect on others than on themselves.
"This makes it harder to get people to participate in media literacy education or training efforts, because it suggests that most people think everyone else needs the training more than they do," Cheng says.
The researchers also found that content containing misinformation was likely to evoke negative emotions such as fear, worry and disgust. That's troubling for two reasons.
"First, people are likely to act on content that evokes negative emotions, and that includes sharing information on social media," Cheng says. "Second, messages that are focused on emotions are more easily transmitted on social media than content that is neutral - such as abstract scientific information."
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