With so much false information circulating about the coronavirus outbreak, health officials are trying to set the record straight. Here's why that can backfire.
After an electoral season that blurred the line between fact and fantasy, a team of UCLA researchers is offering new evidence to support a controversial proposition: that when it comes to telling the difference between truth and fiction, not all potential voters see it the same way.
Correcting misinformation may work briefly, but the passage of time can taint our memories. Sometimes, all we take away from the correction is that there’s bogus information out there, so we’re skeptical when presented with facts that are true. The virus is spread by mosquitoes, and the public was urged to wear insect repellent and take other protective measures. Officials made their case by sharing scientifically accurate information about the virus. Yet their efforts caused people to doubt facts that had firm scientific grounding, andClose to two-thirds of Brazilians believed an unfounded claim that Zika was being spread by genetically modified mosquitoes, according to a study published last month in the journal Science Advances.
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