People’s ability to distinguish between reliable and misleading information is related to education and practical experience.
With the help of a new method of analyzing digital source critique, we see that higher education with a focus on humanities and arts as well as education in technology and natural sciences appears to be associated with a better ability to distinguish between fake facts, says Mona Jawath, researcher in the Department of Psychology, Uppsala University.
On the other hand, graduate studies in healthcare or social sciences do not appear to be associated with a greater ability to evaluate digital news to a greater extent.
I’ve never seen a clear connection before
In previous, mainly American, research, the links between higher education and the ability to deal with deception were not clear.
– This may be because the former has not looked more specifically at different types of higher education and different aspects of digital civic literacy, or Civic Logic Online, which we are investigating. It may also be related to the fact that education in the United States is not good at stimulating source critical thinking, says Thomas Nygren, professor of education with an emphasis in history and social studies at Uppsala University.
Humble attitude is important
It also seems that practical life experience working with source critique is a good prerequisite for critiquing digital sources. Another important finding is that, in general, it seems important to have a humble and open attitude towards news from trusted news channels.
This may be related to a type of intellectual ability that is not measured in traditional intelligence tests. Perhaps it has to do with an active open mind that has proven particularly valuable when it comes to identifying fake and misleading news, says Thomas Nygren.
Support for private groups
The study also shows important challenges for higher education. It is about obtaining an education that provides good subject knowledge, practical skills in navigating digital information, an open attitude to new knowledge as well as analytical acuity.
What we are now actively working on in research is developing different instructional designs to support this important knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Thomas Nygren says that private support for groups that do not do well in assessing what is credible can be seen as very urgent.
This is how the search was done:
- The study is based on responses from 1,222 Swedes aged 19-99, and uses a new method to analyze digital source criticism.
- People participated in the web board and had to answer questions about their background and attitudes to the news along with a test where they had to assess the credibility of more credible digital news.
- The tests examined participants’ ability to determine who was behind the information, evaluate the evidence used, and compare different statements about a controversial issue.
- For example, participants had to try to distinguish between news and advertising, determine the evidentiary value of manipulated images and compare factual news with misinformation.
Scientific material:
Civic inference on the Internet among adults: An empirical evaluation of descriptive and associated theory Published in the scientific journal boundaries in education.
Contact:
Thomas Nygren, Professor of Education with a focus in History and Social Studies at Uppsala University, [email protected]
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