The psychology of misinformation — the mental shortcuts, confusions, and illusions that encourage us to believe things that aren’t true — can tell us a lot about how to prevent its harmful effects. It’s what affects whether corrections work, what we should teach in media literacy courses, and why we’re vulnerable to misinformation in the first place. It’s also a fascinating insight into the human brain.

A three part series

In 2020, First Draft launched a series, written by Tommy Shane, on the core concepts people need to know, focusing on:

• Why we’re vulnerable
• Why corrections are so hard
• How to prevent it

We published three articles, and hosted a webinar with global experts to dive deep into the latest thinking on this important subject.