JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Misinformation threatens people's daily lives, and effective measures are needed to combat it. One potential solution has been proposed as psychological inoculation, which immunizes individuals against misinformation attacks in advance.

Objective:

This study conducted a meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of psychological inoculation in combating misinformation.

Methods:

We performed this meta-analysis, following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis) guidelines, on 4 databases (Web of Science, APA PsycInfo, Proquest, and PubMed). Studies based on inoculation theory and outcome measure-related misinformation, published in the English language, and were empirical studies.

Results:

Based on 41 independent samples (n = 43,114), we found that psychological inoculation significantly reduced trust (d = -0.40, 95%CI[-0.51, -0.30], P< .001) and sharing (d = -0.24, 95%CI[-0.31, -0.16], P< .001) of misinformation. However, psychological inoculation reduced trust in real information (d=-0.27, 95%CI[-0.60, 0.05], P=0.10). Moderation analyses revealed that differences in intervention type (active versus passive) and strategy (content-based versus technology-based) had no impact on the effectiveness of psychological inoculation. There was also a gradual decline in the intervention effect over time.

Conclusions:

This study validated the effectiveness of psychological inoculation in combating misinformation and highlighted the potential negative effects of psychological inoculation on trust in real information.