Cargando…

Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world

Misinformation about COVID-19 is a major threat to public health. Using five national samples from the UK (n = 1050 and n = 1150), Ireland (n = 700), the USA (n = 700), Spain (n = 700) and Mexico (n = 700), we examine predictors of belief in the most common statements about the virus that contain mi...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Roozenbeek, Jon, Schneider, Claudia R., Dryhurst, Sarah, Kerr, John, Freeman, Alexandra L. J., Recchia, Gabriel, van der Bles, Anne Marthe, van der Linden, Sander
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7657933/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33204475
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201199
_version_ 1783608575266914304
author Roozenbeek, Jon
Schneider, Claudia R.
Dryhurst, Sarah
Kerr, John
Freeman, Alexandra L. J.
Recchia, Gabriel
van der Bles, Anne Marthe
van der Linden, Sander
author_facet Roozenbeek, Jon
Schneider, Claudia R.
Dryhurst, Sarah
Kerr, John
Freeman, Alexandra L. J.
Recchia, Gabriel
van der Bles, Anne Marthe
van der Linden, Sander
author_sort Roozenbeek, Jon
collection PubMed
description Misinformation about COVID-19 is a major threat to public health. Using five national samples from the UK (n = 1050 and n = 1150), Ireland (n = 700), the USA (n = 700), Spain (n = 700) and Mexico (n = 700), we examine predictors of belief in the most common statements about the virus that contain misinformation. We also investigate the prevalence of belief in COVID-19 misinformation across different countries and the role of belief in such misinformation in predicting relevant health behaviours. We find that while public belief in misinformation about COVID-19 is not particularly common, a substantial proportion views this type of misinformation as highly reliable in each country surveyed. In addition, a small group of participants find common factual information about the virus highly unreliable. We also find that increased susceptibility to misinformation negatively affects people's self-reported compliance with public health guidance about COVID-19, as well as people's willingness to get vaccinated against the virus and to recommend the vaccine to vulnerable friends and family. Across all countries surveyed, we find that higher trust in scientists and having higher numeracy skills were associated with lower susceptibility to coronavirus-related misinformation. Taken together, these results demonstrate a clear link between susceptibility to misinformation and both vaccine hesitancy and a reduced likelihood to comply with health guidance measures, and suggest that interventions which aim to improve critical thinking and trust in science may be a promising avenue for future research.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7657933
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher The Royal Society
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-76579332020-11-16 Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world Roozenbeek, Jon Schneider, Claudia R. Dryhurst, Sarah Kerr, John Freeman, Alexandra L. J. Recchia, Gabriel van der Bles, Anne Marthe van der Linden, Sander R Soc Open Sci Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Misinformation about COVID-19 is a major threat to public health. Using five national samples from the UK (n = 1050 and n = 1150), Ireland (n = 700), the USA (n = 700), Spain (n = 700) and Mexico (n = 700), we examine predictors of belief in the most common statements about the virus that contain misinformation. We also investigate the prevalence of belief in COVID-19 misinformation across different countries and the role of belief in such misinformation in predicting relevant health behaviours. We find that while public belief in misinformation about COVID-19 is not particularly common, a substantial proportion views this type of misinformation as highly reliable in each country surveyed. In addition, a small group of participants find common factual information about the virus highly unreliable. We also find that increased susceptibility to misinformation negatively affects people's self-reported compliance with public health guidance about COVID-19, as well as people's willingness to get vaccinated against the virus and to recommend the vaccine to vulnerable friends and family. Across all countries surveyed, we find that higher trust in scientists and having higher numeracy skills were associated with lower susceptibility to coronavirus-related misinformation. Taken together, these results demonstrate a clear link between susceptibility to misinformation and both vaccine hesitancy and a reduced likelihood to comply with health guidance measures, and suggest that interventions which aim to improve critical thinking and trust in science may be a promising avenue for future research. The Royal Society 2020-10-14 /pmc/articles/PMC7657933/ /pubmed/33204475 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201199 Text en © 2020 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
Roozenbeek, Jon
Schneider, Claudia R.
Dryhurst, Sarah
Kerr, John
Freeman, Alexandra L. J.
Recchia, Gabriel
van der Bles, Anne Marthe
van der Linden, Sander
Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world
title Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world
title_full Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world
title_fullStr Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world
title_full_unstemmed Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world
title_short Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world
title_sort susceptibility to misinformation about covid-19 around the world
topic Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7657933/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33204475
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201199
work_keys_str_mv AT roozenbeekjon susceptibilitytomisinformationaboutcovid19aroundtheworld
AT schneiderclaudiar susceptibilitytomisinformationaboutcovid19aroundtheworld
AT dryhurstsarah susceptibilitytomisinformationaboutcovid19aroundtheworld
AT kerrjohn susceptibilitytomisinformationaboutcovid19aroundtheworld
AT freemanalexandralj susceptibilitytomisinformationaboutcovid19aroundtheworld
AT recchiagabriel susceptibilitytomisinformationaboutcovid19aroundtheworld
AT vanderblesannemarthe susceptibilitytomisinformationaboutcovid19aroundtheworld
AT vanderlindensander susceptibilitytomisinformationaboutcovid19aroundtheworld