Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36879042›Full record

ArticleNature human behaviour2023

Accuracy and social motivations shape judgements of (mis)information.

Steve Rathje, Jon Roozenbeek, Jay J Van Bavel, Sander van der Linden

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature human behaviour, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
18citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Political polarization and health.Nature medicine · 2024
    Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. The consequences of misinformation concern on media consumption.Harvard Kennedy School misinformation review · 2024
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Incentivizing free riders improves collective intelligence in social dilemmas.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Steve RathjeDepartment of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. srathje@alumni.stanford.edu.ORCID 0000-0001-6727-571X
Jon RoozenbeekDepartment of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-8150-9305
Jay J Van BavelDepartment of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2172-1184
Sander van der LindenDepartment of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. sander.vanderlinden@psychol.cam.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0002-0269-1744

Funding

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) OPP1144John Templeton Foundation (JTF) 61378
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The extent to which belief in (mis)information reflects lack of knowledge versus a lack of motivation to be accurate is unclear. Here, across four experiments (n = 3,364), we motivated US participants to be accurate by providing financial incentives for correct responses about the veracity of true and false political news headlines. Financial incentives improved accuracy and reduced partisan bias in judgements of headlines by about 30%, primarily by increasing the perceived accuracy of true news from the opposing party (d = 0.47). Incentivizing people to identify news that would be liked by their political allies, however, decreased accuracy. Replicating prior work, conservatives were less accurate at discerning true from false headlines than liberals, yet incentives closed the gap in accuracy between conservatives and liberals by 52%. A non-financial accuracy motivation intervention was also effective, suggesting that motivation-based interventions are scalable. Altogether, these results suggest that a substantial portion of people's judgements of the accuracy of news reflects motivational factors.

Indexed as

JudgmentMotivationEmotionsHumans

Identifiers

PMID36879042
PMCPMC10289897

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.