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Remember when, back in July, Planned Parenthood officials were caught on tape selling organs harvested from aborted fetuses? OK, the ambiguous "sting" video didn't precisely show such a transaction, and sure, most mainstream news outlets avoiding overtly making that assertion.
But the prominent play the video received certainly implied that something nefarious was transpiring. And, according to a troubling new study, that sort of journalism—in which key facts are uncertain, leaving readers or viewers to connect the dots—may inspire people to create their own inaccurate narratives, which are particularly resistant to later revision.
When it comes to news stories, "Misinformation that is 'merely' implied is more difficult to eradicate than misinformation that is stated directly," conclude Kent State University psychologists Patrick Rich and Maria Zaragoza. Writing in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, the researchers describe a series of studies that demonstrate this phenomenon.
Full Story: http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-tech...s-in-our-minds
But the prominent play the video received certainly implied that something nefarious was transpiring. And, according to a troubling new study, that sort of journalism—in which key facts are uncertain, leaving readers or viewers to connect the dots—may inspire people to create their own inaccurate narratives, which are particularly resistant to later revision.
When it comes to news stories, "Misinformation that is 'merely' implied is more difficult to eradicate than misinformation that is stated directly," conclude Kent State University psychologists Patrick Rich and Maria Zaragoza. Writing in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, the researchers describe a series of studies that demonstrate this phenomenon.
Full Story: http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-tech...s-in-our-minds
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