Previous research indicated that corrective information can sometimes provoke a so-called “backfire effect” in which respondents more strongly endorsed a misperception about a controversial political or scientific issue when their beliefs or predispositions were challenged. I show how subsequent research and media coverage seized on this finding, distorting its generality and exaggerating its role relative to other factors in explaining the durability of political misperceptions. To the contrary, an emerging research consensus finds that corrective information is typically at least somewhat effective at increasing belief accuracy when received by respondents. However, the research that I review suggests that the accuracy-increasing effects of corrective information like fact checks often do not last or accumulate; instead, they frequently seem to decay or be overwhelmed by cues from elites and the media promoting more congenial but less accurate claims. As a result, misperceptions typically persist in public opinion for years after they have been debunked. Given these realities, the primary challenge for scientific communication is not to prevent backfire effects but instead, to understand how to target corrective information better and to make it more effective. Ultimately, however, the best approach is to disrupt the formation of linkages between group identities and false claims and to reduce the flow of cues reinforcing those claims from elites and the media. Doing so will require a shift from a strategy focused on providing information to the public to one that considers the roles of intermediaries in forming and maintaining belief systems.

先前的研究表明，纠正信息有时会引发所谓的“适得其反”，即当受访者的信念或倾向受到挑战时，他们会更强烈地支持对有争议的政治或科学问题的误解。我展示了随后的研究和媒体报道如何利用这一发现，扭曲其普遍性并夸大其相对于其他因素在解释政治误解的持久性方面的作用。相反，一项新兴的研究共识发现，当受访者收到纠正信息时，通常至少在一定程度上有效地提高了信念的准确性。然而，我回顾的研究表明，事实核查等纠正信息对提高准确性的影响通常不会持续或累积；反而，他们似乎经常受到来自精英和媒体的暗示而衰败或不知所措，他们宣传更合意但不太准确的主张。因此，误解在被揭穿后通常会在公众舆论中持续多年。鉴于这些现实，科学传播的主要挑战不是防止适得其反，而是了解如何更好地定位纠正信息并使其更有效。然而，归根结底，最好的方法是破坏群体身份和虚假主张之间的联系，并减少来自精英和媒体的强化这些主张的线索的流动。这样做需要从专注于向公众提供信息的战略转变为考虑中介在形成和维护信仰体系中的作用的战略。