Mr Edward White: The Spread of Misinformation

From setting mobile phone towers on fire to refusing critical vaccinations, we know the proliferation of misinformation online can have massive, real-world consequences. Joining me in today’s episode is Mr Edward White. Mr White is completing his PhD at Kingston University, and his research focuses on understanding the misinformation paradigm and the critical factors that influence people and their willingness to engage in misinformation. 

Here we will describe the cognitive, social and affective factors that lead people to form or endorse misinformed views, and we will attempt to better understand the psychological barriers to knowledge revision after misinformation has been corrected.

- Keywords:  Misinformation, Cognitive decision making, Forensic psychology, Offending behaviour.

- Academic Profile:

- https://www.kingston.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/research-degree-students/profile/edward-white-563/

- Further Reading & Resources:

1- Basol, M., Roozenbeek, J., & van der Linden, S. (2020). Good news about Bad News: Gamified inoculation boosts confidence and cognitive immunity against fake news. Journal of Cognition, 3(1), 1-9.

2- Roozenbeek, J., van der Linden, S., & Nygren, T. (2020). Prebunking interventions based on inoculation theory can reduce susceptibility to misinformation across cultures. The Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review 1(2).