Edward Maibach on the Sticky Problem of Misinformation
“When it’s really important to educate the public about an issue, the most reliable means we have is simple, clear messages repeated often by a variety of trusted sources,” says Edward Maibach, Director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. Maibach wrote the introduction to the latest issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest (PSPI), which features a report on misinformation by Stephan Lewandowsky (University of Western Australia, Australia) and four coauthors.
The report, Maibach says, offers clear information about why the human mind is susceptible to misinformation, why misinformation is so hard to let go of once people believe it, and what you can do to set the record straight once misinformation has taken hold. Watch this video interview for more on the study of misinformation and the newest issue of PSPI.
Read the introduction by Maibach and the full report online.
Lewandowsky, s., Ecker,U. K. H. Seifert,C.M., Schwarz,N., and Cook, J. (2012). Misinformation and Its Correction: Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13 (3), 106-131 DOI: 10.1177/1529100612451018
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