Award Abstract # 2122640
SaTC: CORE: Small: How False Beliefs Form and How to Correct Them

NSF Org: CNS
Division Of Computer and Network Systems
Recipient: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: July 7, 2021
Latest Amendment Date: October 31, 2022
Award Number: 2122640
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Sara Kiesler
skiesler@nsf.gov
 (703)292-8643
CNS
 Division Of Computer and Network Systems
CSE
 Direct For Computer & Info Scie & Enginr
Start Date: July 15, 2021
End Date: June 30, 2025 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $444,345.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $506,478.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2021 = $444,345.00
FY 2022 = $2,695.00

FY 2023 = $59,438.00
History of Investigator:
  • Lisa Fazio (Principal Investigator)
    lisa.fazio@vanderbilt.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Vanderbilt University
110 21ST AVE S
NASHVILLE
TN  US  37203-2416
(615)322-2631
Sponsor Congressional District: 05
Primary Place of Performance: Vanderbilt University
230 Appleton Pl
Nashville
TN  US  37203-5721
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
05
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): GTNBNWXJ12D5
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): GVF - Global Venture Fund,
Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace
Primary Program Source: 01002223DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01002324DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01002122DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 025Z, 065Z, 5946, 7434, 7923, 9102
Program Element Code(s): 054Y00, 806000
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.070, 47.075, 47.079

ABSTRACT

Modern technologies allow false information to spread faster and further than ever before. There is currently an urgent need to understand the real-world effects of misinformation on people?s beliefs and how to best correct false beliefs. Through a series of laboratory and naturalistic experiments, the project team is examining the effects of repetition on belief in real-world settings and how to more effectively counter-act misinformation. This project will inform real-world practices aimed at reducing the impact of misinformation. Fact-checking practitioners are consulted to help guide the research, and results will be discussed with them.

A series of studies examines how repetition affects belief in daily life. Findings will determine whether the commonly observed effects of repetition on belief are generalizable to real-world repetition or if they are an artifact of widespread use of laboratory tasks and materials. The studies explore why repetition increases belief more for some types of information than others. By examining these basic psychological processes in the primary domain within which they affect daily life ? misinformation on social media ? this work will have implications for real-world practices aimed at reducing the impact of misinformation. Leveraging core principles of cognitive psychology, another series of studies investigates how to best correct false beliefs. Using predictions derived from existing theories within memory, language, linguistics and communications, the project is testing various design features hypothesized to improve the effectiveness of misinformation debunking strategies. Findings will reveal the cognitive mechanisms underlying successful misinformation debunking, and how fact-checkers should best present their findings. Overall, the results will inform and constrain current theories of how beliefs form and can be changed.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Pillai, Raunak M. and Brown-Schmidt, Sarah and Fazio, Lisa K. "Does wording matter? Examining the effect of phrasing on memory for negated political fact checks." Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1037/mac0000022 Citation Details
Collier, Jessica R and Pillai, Raunak M and Fazio, Lisa K "Multiple-choice quizzes improve memory for misinformation debunks, but do not reduce belief in misinformation" Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications , v.8 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-023-00488-9 Citation Details
Fazio, Lisa K "Preventing belief in misinformation: Current and future directions for the field." Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition , v.12 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1037/mac0000136 Citation Details
Pillai, Raunak M and Fazio, Lisa K and Effron, Daniel A "Repeatedly Encountered Descriptions of Wrongdoing Seem More True but Less Unethical: Evidence in a Naturalistic Setting" Psychological Science , v.34 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976231180578 Citation Details
Pillai, Raunak_M and Kim, Eunji and Fazio, Lisa_K "All the President?s Lies: Repeated False Claims and Public Opinion" Public Opinion Quarterly , v.87 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfad032 Citation Details
Pillai, Raunak M and Fazio, Lisa K "Repeated by many versus repeated by one: Examining the role of social consensus in the relationship between repetition and belief." Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1037/mac0000166 Citation Details
Fazio, Lisa K. and Pillai, Raunak M. and Patel, Deep "The effects of repetition on belief in naturalistic settings." Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001211 Citation Details

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