Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world.
Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world.
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DOI：
10.1098/rsos.201199
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发表时间：
2020-10
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
van der Linden S
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Roozenbeek J;Schneider CR;Dryhurst S;Kerr J;Freeman ALJ;Recchia G;van der Bles AM;van der Linden S
有关COVID-19的错误信息是对公共卫生的重大威胁。使用来自英国（n = 1050和n = 1150）、爱尔兰（n = 700）、美国（n = 700）、西班牙（n = 700）和墨西哥（n = 700）的五个国家样本，我们检查了包含错误信息的关于病毒的最常见陈述的信念预测因素。我们还调查了不同国家对COVID-19错误信息的信念的流行程度，以及对此类错误信息的信念在预测相关健康行为方面的作用。我们发现，尽管公众相信有关COVID-19的错误信息并不特别普遍，但在每个接受调查的国家，相当大比例的人认为这类错误信息高度可靠。此外，一小部分参与者认为有关该病毒的常见事实信息非常不可靠。我们还发现，对错误信息的敏感性增加会对人们自我报告的对COVID-19公共卫生指南的遵守情况产生负面影响，以及人们接种病毒疫苗和向脆弱的朋友和家人推荐疫苗的意愿。在所有接受调查的国家中，我们发现，对科学家的更高信任和更高的计算能力与对冠状病毒相关错误信息的敏感性降低有关。综上所述，这些结果表明，对错误信息的敏感性与疫苗犹豫和遵守健康指导措施的可能性降低之间存在明确的联系，并表明旨在改善批判性思维和对科学的信任的干预措施可能是未来研究的一个有希望的途径。
Misinformation about COVID-19 is a major threat to public health. Using five national samples from the UK (n = 1050 and n = 1150), Ireland (n = 700), the USA (n = 700), Spain (n = 700) and Mexico (n = 700), we examine predictors of belief in the most common statements about the virus that contain misinformation. We also investigate the prevalence of belief in COVID-19 misinformation across different countries and the role of belief in such misinformation in predicting relevant health behaviours. We find that while public belief in misinformation about COVID-19 is not particularly common, a substantial proportion views this type of misinformation as highly reliable in each country surveyed. In addition, a small group of participants find common factual information about the virus highly unreliable. We also find that increased susceptibility to misinformation negatively affects people's self-reported compliance with public health guidance about COVID-19, as well as people's willingness to get vaccinated against the virus and to recommend the vaccine to vulnerable friends and family. Across all countries surveyed, we find that higher trust in scientists and having higher numeracy skills were associated with lower susceptibility to coronavirus-related misinformation. Taken together, these results demonstrate a clear link between susceptibility to misinformation and both vaccine hesitancy and a reduced likelihood to comply with health guidance measures, and suggest that interventions which aim to improve critical thinking and trust in science may be a promising avenue for future research.