Changing User Behavior in Decisions to Share COVID-19 Misinformation: An Implicit Association Test Study

Abstract

Making medical decisions while distracted when receiving COVID-19 misinformation can majorly impact a person's life and even lead to death. Blatantly sharing COVID-19 misinformation is a significant problem of human behavior that triggers a speed-up and acceleration in the propagation and diffusion of misinformation in social media. While the latest research has focused on understanding the psychological dimensions of this phenomenon, few studies have explored the role of selective exposure and technological prevention when a person considers sharing COVID-19 misinformation, primarily through an Implicit Association Test (IAT). Our study identified and intervened in the association of user exposure between misinformation and implicit truth evaluations by using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) with "Misinformation vs. Fact Information or Positive vs. Negative Words”, 38 from 150 participants were either exposed to misinformation headlines or actual new headline posts on stimulants, in the form of images. We then measured participants' implicit truth evaluations and self-reported perceived accuracies of actual and of misinformation headlines using the Visual Selective Attention System (VSAS). After intervening, participants exposed to fake news headlines had lower implicit truth evaluations and increased perceived accuracy. This implies that exposure to fake news headlines after the intervention with the VSAS system may have directly affected implicit evaluations and changed user behavior in sharing COVID-19 misinformation.