[Ias-public] The Institute for Analytical Sociology Seminar: Friedolin Merhout, January 30, 11:00, KO301

[Madelene Töpfer]

The Institute for Analytical Sociology Seminar

Venue: KO301 (3rd floor), Kopparhammaren 2, Norra Grytsgatan 10, Norrköping


Thursday January 30 @ 11:00

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Using experiments and automated text analysis to study the mechanism of backfire effects in correcting misperceptions

Friedolin Merhout
Duke University



Abstract:
The unexpected election of Donald Trump in 2016 and the role attributed to purposefully fabricated news reports has turned the public spotlight on the spread of misinformation and the correction of factually inaccurate beliefs. The scholarly literature studying such misperceptions dates back to the Cold War and has repeatedly demonstrated the steadfastness of beliefs in the face of disconfirming evidence. Beyond belief persistence, recent scholarship suggests that efforts at correcting factually incorrect beliefs can prompt even more vigorous endorsement of these beliefs, leading to so-called ``backfire effects''. While the prevalence of these backfire effects is being hotly debated, their existence poses an obvious challenge to the functioning of democratic institutions and decision-making processes. To gauge the severity of this challenge, it is essential to understand the mechanism(s) underlying these effects as well as the scope conditions under which they occur. In this talk, I leverage theories from social psychology to contribute to the understanding of both of these issues. Specifically, I first draw on cognitive dissonance theory to argue that the degree of perceived choice individuals have about encountering disconfirming, corrective information moderates the relationship between exposure to such information and the whether they correct their beliefs or not. Second, I provide a test of whether ``counter-arguing'' can explain when correcting information lead to more incorrect beliefs. Evidence from an online experiment suggests that when individuals choose between and read one of multiple news articles, such correcting information more consistently lead to corrected beliefs than when they are asked to read one specific article. Conversely, when individuals are prompted to reflect on and engage with an article with information disconfirming an ideologically-aligned misperception, they are prone to experience backfire effects, suggesting that counter-arguing is one mechanism through which such effects operate. To probe the counter-arguing mechanism further, I apply a set of automated text analysis methods to the reflection responses.


The seminar is open for everyone. Coffee and tea is provided.


Best regards
Madelene Töpfer
Administrator
[Linköping University]
Institute for Analytical Sociology
S-601 74 Norrköping
Phone: +46 (0)11-36 32 91
Mobile: +46 (0)700 89 66 97
Visiting address: Kopparhammaren 7, Kungsgatan 56D, Campus Norrköping
Please visit us at liu.se<https://liu.se/>



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