Political Science · Level 2 · Intermediate
Fake news game confers psychological resistance against online misinformation
Roozenbeek J, van der Linden S (2019). Palgrave Communications (now Humanities and Social Sciences Communications). doi:10.1057/s41599-019-0279-9 · CC BY 4.0
Step 1 of 2Read the paper
Can playing a short online game in which you act as a fake news producer make you better at spotting misinformation? Players of the free "Bad News" game rated how reliable several tweets and headlines seemed, both before and after playing; some items used misleading techniques and two were real news controls. About 14,000 players gave paired before-and-after answers.
How to read it
- Read the last part of the Introduction to understand the "inoculation" idea behind the game.
- In Methods, note how players were recruited and why two "real news" control items were included.
- Figure 5 and the "Main effects" text give before and after means; compare effect sizes (d), not just p-values.
- Read the limitations in the Discussion carefully: the design has no randomised control group.
Step 2 of 2Take the test
15 questions · about 40 minutes including reading · pick an answer to see straight away if it’s right. Nothing is saved.
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Paper: Roozenbeek J, van der Linden S, Palgrave Communications (now Humanities and Social Sciences Communications) (2019), licensed CC BY 4.0. Summary and questions are Research Nest’s own; read the original for the full study.