2009-04-22 The persistence of political misperceptions

2009-04-22 \Brendan Nyhan\Jason Reifler Duke University \human nature\Democrats vs. Republicans\propaganda\PDFs\science/research/papers http://www.duke.edu/~bjn3/nyhan-reifler.pdf When Corrections Fail: The persistence of political misperceptions The persistence of political misperceptions Abstract: An extensive literature addresses citizen ignorance, but very little research focuses on misperceptions. Can these false or unsubstantiated beliefs about politics be corrected? Previous studies have not tested the efficacy of corrections in a realistic format. We conducted four experiments in which subjects read mock news articles that included either a misleading claim from a politician, or a misleading claim and a correction. Results indicate that corrections frequently fail to reduce misperceptions among the targeted ideological group. We also document several instances of a “backfire” effect in which corrections actually increase misperceptions among the group in question.

Reporting (on a pre-publication version of the paper):
 * 2008-09-15 The Power of Political Misinformation: &ldquo;Via email, Nyhan tells me that they tried to test my proposition that conservatives don't trust elite experts by varying the source of the refutations. Sometimes it was the New York Times, other times it was Fox News. "Surprisingly," he says, "it had little effect."&rdquo;
 * 2008-09-15 The Backfire Effect: &ldquo;Nyhan and Reifler found this "backfire" effect only among conservatives. Refutations had little effect on liberals, but it didn't cause them to actively believe the misleading information even more strongly.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Results indicate that corrections frequently fail to reduce misperceptions among the targeted ideological group. We also document several instances of a “backfire” effect in which corrections actually increase misperceptions among the group in question.&rdquo;   