Inoculation reduces social media engagement with affectively polarized content in the UK and US
Abstract The generation and distribution of hyper-partisan content on social media has gained millions of exposure across platforms, often allowing malevolent actors to influence and disrupt democracies. The spread of this content is facilitated by real users’ engaging with it on platforms. The curr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Communications Psychology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00189-7 |
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| _version_ | 1832571329743683584 |
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| author | Fintan Smith Almog Simchon Dawn Holford Stephan Lewandowsky |
| author_facet | Fintan Smith Almog Simchon Dawn Holford Stephan Lewandowsky |
| author_sort | Fintan Smith |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The generation and distribution of hyper-partisan content on social media has gained millions of exposure across platforms, often allowing malevolent actors to influence and disrupt democracies. The spread of this content is facilitated by real users’ engaging with it on platforms. The current study tests the efficacy of an ‘inoculation’ intervention via six online survey-based experiments in the UK and US. Experiments 1–3 (total N = 3276) found that the inoculation significantly reduced self-reported engagement with polarising stimuli. However, Experiments 4–6 (total N = 1878) found no effects on participants’ self-produced written text discussing the topic. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the literature on polarisation and previous interventions to reduce engagement with disinformation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c23493f83032408ea7485f52c59f0217 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2731-9121 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-c23493f83032408ea7485f52c59f02172025-02-02T12:41:22ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Psychology2731-91212025-01-013111310.1038/s44271-025-00189-7Inoculation reduces social media engagement with affectively polarized content in the UK and USFintan Smith0Almog Simchon1Dawn Holford2Stephan Lewandowsky3School of Psychological Science, University of BristolSchool of Psychological Science, University of BristolSchool of Psychological Science, University of BristolSchool of Psychological Science, University of BristolAbstract The generation and distribution of hyper-partisan content on social media has gained millions of exposure across platforms, often allowing malevolent actors to influence and disrupt democracies. The spread of this content is facilitated by real users’ engaging with it on platforms. The current study tests the efficacy of an ‘inoculation’ intervention via six online survey-based experiments in the UK and US. Experiments 1–3 (total N = 3276) found that the inoculation significantly reduced self-reported engagement with polarising stimuli. However, Experiments 4–6 (total N = 1878) found no effects on participants’ self-produced written text discussing the topic. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the literature on polarisation and previous interventions to reduce engagement with disinformation.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00189-7 |
| spellingShingle | Fintan Smith Almog Simchon Dawn Holford Stephan Lewandowsky Inoculation reduces social media engagement with affectively polarized content in the UK and US Communications Psychology |
| title | Inoculation reduces social media engagement with affectively polarized content in the UK and US |
| title_full | Inoculation reduces social media engagement with affectively polarized content in the UK and US |
| title_fullStr | Inoculation reduces social media engagement with affectively polarized content in the UK and US |
| title_full_unstemmed | Inoculation reduces social media engagement with affectively polarized content in the UK and US |
| title_short | Inoculation reduces social media engagement with affectively polarized content in the UK and US |
| title_sort | inoculation reduces social media engagement with affectively polarized content in the uk and us |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00189-7 |
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