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Learning about informal fallacies and the detection of fake news: An experimental intervention
The philosophical concept of informal fallacies–arguments that fail to provide sufficient support for a claim–is introduced and connected to the topic of fake news detection. We assumed that the ability to identify informal fallacies can be trained and that this ability enables individuals to better...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10057814/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36989285 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283238 |
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author | Hruschka, Timon M. J. Appel, Markus |
author_facet | Hruschka, Timon M. J. Appel, Markus |
author_sort | Hruschka, Timon M. J. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The philosophical concept of informal fallacies–arguments that fail to provide sufficient support for a claim–is introduced and connected to the topic of fake news detection. We assumed that the ability to identify informal fallacies can be trained and that this ability enables individuals to better distinguish between fake news and real news. We tested these assumptions in a two-group between-participants experiment (N = 116). The two groups participated in a 30-minute-long text-based learning intervention: either about informal fallacies or about fake news. Learning about informal fallacies enhanced participants’ ability to identify fallacious arguments one week later. Furthermore, the ability to identify fallacious arguments was associated with a better discernment between real news and fake news. Participants in the informal fallacy intervention group and the fake news intervention group performed equally well on the news discernment task. The contribution of (identifying) informal fallacies for research and practice is discussed. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10057814 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-100578142023-03-30 Learning about informal fallacies and the detection of fake news: An experimental intervention Hruschka, Timon M. J. Appel, Markus PLoS One Research Article The philosophical concept of informal fallacies–arguments that fail to provide sufficient support for a claim–is introduced and connected to the topic of fake news detection. We assumed that the ability to identify informal fallacies can be trained and that this ability enables individuals to better distinguish between fake news and real news. We tested these assumptions in a two-group between-participants experiment (N = 116). The two groups participated in a 30-minute-long text-based learning intervention: either about informal fallacies or about fake news. Learning about informal fallacies enhanced participants’ ability to identify fallacious arguments one week later. Furthermore, the ability to identify fallacious arguments was associated with a better discernment between real news and fake news. Participants in the informal fallacy intervention group and the fake news intervention group performed equally well on the news discernment task. The contribution of (identifying) informal fallacies for research and practice is discussed. Public Library of Science 2023-03-29 /pmc/articles/PMC10057814/ /pubmed/36989285 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283238 Text en © 2023 Hruschka, Appel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Hruschka, Timon M. J. Appel, Markus Learning about informal fallacies and the detection of fake news: An experimental intervention |
title | Learning about informal fallacies and the detection of fake news: An experimental intervention |
title_full | Learning about informal fallacies and the detection of fake news: An experimental intervention |
title_fullStr | Learning about informal fallacies and the detection of fake news: An experimental intervention |
title_full_unstemmed | Learning about informal fallacies and the detection of fake news: An experimental intervention |
title_short | Learning about informal fallacies and the detection of fake news: An experimental intervention |
title_sort | learning about informal fallacies and the detection of fake news: an experimental intervention |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10057814/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36989285 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283238 |
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