Eighteenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society

Abstract

College students may have false beliefs from seeking weight loss information online. Misinformation correction is often ineffective, but factors that hinder the success of misinformation correction remain unclear. The present study examines the influence of trust in misinformation, web-searching, and intention to share information on the effectiveness of corrective information. Participants were 151 undergraduate students at a large, public Midwestern university. A lab quasi-experiment where participants received misinformation about weight loss methods and given autonomy to decide whether to seek additional information online was employed, followed by subsequent misinformation correction. Trust in misinformation and web-searching were positively related to resistance to corrective information. Trust did not moderate the effect of web-searching on misinformation correction. Intention to share did not predict resistance to misinformation correction but was positively associated with levels of trust in misinformation. Web-searching was the main factor that affected people’s subsequent attitude when given corrective information.