University of California, Berkeley

- accuracy discernment was higher than sharing discernment; for false headlines, 32.4% of participants were more likely to share them than to rate them as true
- scores on the Cognitive Reflection Test were positively correlated with accuracy discernment and sharing discernment
- scores on the science knowledge quiz were also positively correlated with accuracy discernment and sharing discernment 
- COVID-19 concern and how often participants checked news related to COVID-19 was negatively correlated with scores on the Cognitive Reflection Test and preference for the republican Party, and positively correlated with being a medical maximizer and science knowledge

Study 1 Results

Pennycook, G., McPhetres, J., Zhang, Y., Lu, J. G., & Rand, D. G. (2020). Fighting COVID-19 misinformation on social media: Experimental evidence for a scalable accuracy-nudge intervention. Psychological science, 31(7), 770-780.

Fighting COVID-19 Misinformation on
Social Media: Experimental Evidence for
a Scalable Accuracy-Nudge Intervention

"Results from Study 1: percentage of “yes” responses for each combination of headline veracity (true vs. false) and condition (accuracy = “To the best of your knowledge, is the claim in the above headline accurate?” vs. sharing = “Would you consider sharing this story online (for example, through Facebook or Twitter)?”). Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals."

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