The Roles of Misinformation, Disinformation, and Confirmation Bias in Public Health Discourse

During the height of the pandemic, and unfortunately even today, misinformation and disinformation continues to thrive on social media, and even in some cases, the media. Social media algorithms are set up to feed people information they have liked, shared, and clicked on, leaving people in a silo of their own beliefs and not confronting new information, which can often lead to confirmation bias.

Additionally, even through the traditional news outlets, such as TV news, radio, and online news sites, there might be misleading information that leans towards one political spectrum or another.

Although misinformation and disinformation are terms that have been out in the public sphere, it may not be fully understood or the distinctions between them.

“Misinformation is somebody sharing something that's false and not really, maybe knowing that it's false; whereas disinformation there's some intent behind it, like somebody created that information in order to manipulate or gain political power or financial gain,” explained Katrine Wallace, PhD, research epidemiologist and an adjunct assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health.

“People who fall victim to misinformation oftentimes don't realize it,” Eric John Burnett, MD, Hospital Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said. “And I think those folks are the ones that can be reached out to and have them course correct a little bit and realize what they're saying is false, as opposed to the people who spread disinformation.”

How to Approach Information Consumption

Burnett says one of the ways to take a more discerning viewpoint and awareness to misinformation and disinformation is to ask questions before quickly reposting something on social media.

“It may just be something as simple as when you see or hear something before reposting it, before sharing it, ask yourself, ‘Where did this come from? Who's telling me this information? What is the intent behind it?’” Burnett said. “And just by doing that, you might be able to tell this is actually not true; this person is a bad actor—just take that five second pause, because it's very reflexive when you see something, especially if it aligns with you politically or confirms a bias that you might have.”

Wallace adds that people should check the dates of article and information they are seeing because it might actually be outdated and something that is not current. She sees the need for more education for teens to understand better the information they are consuming.

“There needs to be some kind of media training in high schools, because I feel like people don't really understand that not every source is equivalent,” Wallace said. “If you read something online on 1 site, it's not necessarily equivalent to what you'd read on the CDC website. I don't think people understand the differences in the intent behind different publications.”

Understanding and Overcoming Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias continues to be a major issue that allows disinformation and misinformation to proliferate.

“It's something that if a person has a deeply held belief, they're going to seek out things that confirm that belief and sort of push aside anything that might confront that belief. For example, if someone believes that the COVID vaccines are dangerous; that they cause death; they cause illness; they're going to be attracted to things from sources that say, 'hey, the COVID vaccines are dangerous. And then that's going to confirm their bias,” Burnett said.

“In terms of confirmation bias, it's something that we all have, right?“ said Wallace. “We make decisions with the information we already have on file in our minds...But this is why it's so dangerous when politics and religion get involved in medical [discussions], because the information that these people have on file is different, and are not evidence-based decisions.”

People want to be inherently right, explained Burnett, so introducing new information can be difficult, especially if it goes against people’s beliefs.

“Everyone likes to feel right…Everyone likes that sensation like, ‘okay, yes, I'm right about this.’ And when they see other data that comes out that confronts that belief, that can contradict their belief, they're going to have the urge to say, ‘No, that's fake,’” Burnett said.

Burnett says in having conversations with people who might be proliferating misinformation, rather than attack their viewpoint, it might be better to ask where they are getting their information.

“What data have you analyzed? What things have you read that confirm this for you? And what can we do to have you be open to the idea that you could possibly be wrong? Burnett said. "And I think that sort of helps coming from a point of common ground…as opposed to saying, ‘no, you're wrong. And here are all the reasons why,’ because someone's going to shut you out when you do that.”

To learn more about where to find credible information, read this recent Contagion article.