The history of an idea: The misinformation effect

Abstract

When people are exposed to misleading information after an event has occurred, they frequently fall sway to its influence and report the misinformation as their own memory. This phenomenon, known as The Misinformation Effect, has been intensively studied for half a century. Here, we report on where the idea came from and what aspects of the phenomenon have been explored by scientists over this period of time. These explorations have addressed many questions, such as (1) What are the conditions under which people are more or less susceptible to misinformation? (2) Are there certain types of people who are especially susceptible to misinformation? (3) Can warnings about misinformation reduce its influence? and (4) Just how far can you go in terms of planting false ideas into people’s minds? We also review work that examines the interplay between modern technology and misinformation. The Misinformation Effect teaches us about the malleability of memory, but it also has important practical applications.