Descrizione del progetto
Come evitare di abboccare alle notizie false
Gran parte di ciò che si legge online sono notizie false: truffe finalizzate a disinformare i lettori, a influenzare la loro opinione su una questione o a promuovere un’agenda politica. Le notizie false vengano condivise e ricondivise sul web con grande probabilità, raggiungendo milioni di persone in breve tempo. Ecco perché le azioni di correzione della disinformazione sono difficili: le persone credono facilmente alle informazioni in cui si imbattono ripetutamente. Il progetto MISTRUST, finanziato dall’UE, esaminerà il meccanismo di correzione proponendo metodi per convincere le persone a mettere in discussione le notizie false per mezzo di informazioni sull’inaffidabilità della fonte. I risultati del progetto contribuiranno a informare le politiche su quali siano i modi efficaci per affrontare le notizie false.
Obiettivo
Every day a vast amount of misinformation and Fake News are repeated and infinitely shared, reaching millions of people in a short time. The large-scale dissemination of misinformation is one of the major challenges that current societies face, with long-lasting costs to individuals and governments. European Commission’s recent efforts in seeking advice from experts regarding measures to counteract disinformation attest to the urgency of addressing this issue.
The fact that people tend to believe in information they repeatedly encounter and to reject claims that contradict what they heard before makes misinformation-correction very difficult. Since most correction strategies entail both a repetition of the false claims and their contradiction, they ironically end up strengthening the validity of the misinformation they attempt to correct. It is thus of the utmost importance to examine the mechanisms that may contribute to the development of effective misinformation-correction actions.
This proposal contributes to that goal, addressing a novel variable - source (un)trustworthiness - with the potential to influence the effects of repetition and contradiction on perceived information validity. It is hypothesized that providing information about the untrustworthiness of the source of previous false claims will prompt individuals to scrutinize and analyze information more deeply, counteracting the effects of repetition and contradiction (which rely on superficial information processing). This research program will both advance the knowledge in the field and inform future policies to deal with the increasing amount of misinformation that is spread to the public.
The researcher conducting the project has the relevant expertise on both the specific field of research and the appropriate experimental methodologies. Additionally, the Host offers a high-quality research and training environment, and the necessary infrastructure for the successful implementation of the project.
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
1649 026 Lisboa
Portogallo