Flooding the Zone: How Exposure to Implausible Statements Shapes Subsequent Belief Judgments

Abstract Much scholarly attention has been paid to the effects of misinformation on beliefs and attitudes, but rarely have studies investigated potential downstream effects of misinformation exposure on belief judgments involving subsequent factual statements. Drawing from work on anchoring-and-adju...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Public Opinion Research 2021-12, Vol.33 (4), p.856-872
Main Authors: Ulusoy, Ezgi, Carnahan, Dustin, Bergan, Daniel E, Barry, Rachel C, Ma, Siyuan, Ahn, Suhwoo, McGraw, Johnny
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beliefs
Court decisions
Experiments
False information
Information dissemination
Misinformation
Public opinion
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Summary:Abstract Much scholarly attention has been paid to the effects of misinformation on beliefs and attitudes, but rarely have studies investigated potential downstream effects of misinformation exposure on belief judgments involving subsequent factual statements. Drawing from work on anchoring-and-adjustment and defensive reasoning, this study examines how exposure to initial falsehoods that vary in terms of their plausibility shapes subsequent belief judgments. Across two survey experiments, we find that initial exposure to a less plausible statement decreases belief in subsequent statements, whether true or false. This order effect has implications for misinformation research, as studies examining audience responses to a single falsehood may fail to capture the full range of misinformation effects. Other implications are discussed in this article.
ISSN:0954-2892
1471-6909
DOI:10.1093/ijpor/edab022