An analysis drawing on Signal Detection Theory suggests that people may fall for misinformation because they are unable to discern true from false information () or because they tend to accept information with a particular slant regardless of whether it is true or false (). Three preregistered experiments with participants from the United States and the United Kingdom ( = 961) revealed that () truth insensitivity in responses to (mis)information about COVID-19 vaccines differed as a function of prior attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines; () participants exhibited a strong belief bias favoring attitude-congruent information; () truth insensitivity and belief bias jointly predicted acceptance of false information about COVID-19 vaccines, but belief bias was a much stronger predictor; () cognitive elaboration increased truth sensitivity without reducing belief bias; and () higher levels of confidence in one's beliefs were associated with greater belief bias. The findings provide insights into why people fall for misinformation, which is essential for individual-level interventions to reduce susceptibility to misinformation.

中文翻译：

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对 COVID-19 疫苗错误信息的敏感性：信号检测分析


根据信号检测理论进行的分析表明，人们可能会因为无法辨别真假信息而误入错误信息 ()，或者因为他们倾向于以特定的倾向接受信息，无论信息是真还是假 ()。对来自美国和英国 (= 961) 的参与者进行的三项预先注册实验表明，() 对有关 COVID-19 疫苗的（错误）信息的反应的真相不敏感程度因之前对 COVID-19 疫苗的态度而异； () 参与者表现出强烈的信念偏见，倾向于态度一致的信息； () 真相不敏感和信仰偏见共同预测接受有关 COVID-19 疫苗的虚假信息，但信仰偏见是一个更强的预测因素； () 认知阐述提高了真理敏感性，但没有减少信念偏见； () 对自己的信念的信心程度越高，信念偏差就越大。这些发现提供了人们为何容易陷入错误信息的见解，这对于降低对错误信息的敏感性的个人干预措施至关重要。