Widespread concerns about the pervasiveness of misinformation have propelled one antidote to the center of scholarly attention: the journalistic fact check. Yet, fact checks often do not work as intended. While most fact checks are text only, a compelling theoretical argument can be made for using a video format instead. In this pre-registered experiment conducted in Germany ( N = 1,093), we investigated whether using video versus text can improve fact checks’ ability to correct misperceptions about transgender women, cannabis consumption, migration, and climate change. Video fact checks outperformed text fact checks, with those holding false or uncertain pre-existing beliefs benefiting the most. We contribute to motivated reasoning theory the idea that visual information can override directional reasoning better than textual information, and that processing fluency is the mechanism by which this occurs. Our findings paint an optimistic picture for the ability of fact checks to debunk misinformation, especially for those holding misperceptions.

中文翻译：

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“当我看到它时，我会改变我的信念”：视频事实核查在纠正那些持有错误或不确定的既有信念的人中的误解方面优于文本事实核查


对错误信息普遍存在的普遍担忧推动了一种解药，以解决学术界的关注中心：新闻事实核查。然而，事实核查往往不能按预期工作。虽然大多数事实核查仅是文本，但可以使用视频格式提出令人信服的理论论点。在德国进行的这项预先注册的实验 （N = 1,093） 中，我们调查了使用视频与文本是否可以提高事实核查纠正对跨性别女性、大麻消费、移民和气候变化的误解的能力。视频事实核查的效果优于文本事实核查，那些持有错误或不确定的既有信念的人受益最大。我们为动机推理理论做出了贡献，即视觉信息比文本信息更能覆盖方向推理，而处理流畅性是发生这种情况的机制。我们的研究结果为事实核查揭穿错误信息的能力描绘了一幅乐观的画面，特别是对于那些持有误解的人。