Misinformation On Misinformation Conceptual And Sage Journals

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 5, 2025, 4:01 PM

misinformation on misinformation conceptual and sage journals

This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License One of the reasons why political discussions in the West rarely go very far is because the theory of “brainwashing” has near-universal acceptance. The very notion of working out a disagreement through dialogue is seen as ridiculous — no matter what you believe, the other side is hopelessly “brainwashed” by immeasurably powerful media, so what’s the point? Faith in this theory defeats many Communists before they even begin trying. Whenever I decisively oppose the propagation of this theory of “brainwashing,” [1] its fervent advocates bray back “It’s backed by science!”. But this isn’t true!

As the peer-reviewed, open-access article reproduced below clearly demonstrates, the theory of “brainwashing” is not backed by science: “There is no such thing as ‘brainwashing.’ Information is not passed from brain to brain like a virus is passed from body to body. […] The virus metaphor, all too popular during the COVID-19 pandemic — think of the ‘infodemic’ epithet — is misleading. It is reminiscent of outdated models of communication (e.g., ‘hypodermic needle model’) assuming that audiences were passive and easily swayed by pretty much everything they heard or read. […] These premises are at odds with what we know about human psychology and clash with decades of data from communication studies.” I do understand that, precisely for the reasons laid out by these researchers, merely putting this knowledge out there won’t and can’t alter people’s attachment to the narrative — it has its roots elsewhere.

That said, it’s brilliant work, and we hope it becomes far better known! — R. D. Alarmist narratives about online misinformation continue to gain traction despite evidence that its prevalence and impact are overstated. Drawing on research examining the use of big data in social science and reception studies, we identify six misconceptions about misinformation and highlight the conceptual and methodological challenges they raise. The first set of misconceptions concerns the prevalence and circulation of misinformation.

Corresponding Author: Milad Ahmadi Marzaleh, Email: miladahmadimarzaleh@yahoo.com Received 2025 Mar 25; Revised 2025 May 1; Accepted 2025 May 20; Issue date 2025 Aug. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. “Misinformation” is the dissemination of false information without the intention to mislead. Those who share this false information may believe that the information is true, useful, or interesting, and have no malicious intent toward the people they share it with.1 Health “misinformation” can be divided into three different types based on its accuracy, each of which poses risks to individuals and society.

The first type of misinformation involves the dissemination of completely incorrect health information that can lead to harmful health decisions. The second type of misinformation refers to the spread of health pseudoscience, where some elements of truth are presented in a misleading way, leading to incorrect conclusions. Finally, the third type of misinformation involves conditional advice of uncertain validity that, despite good intentions, can lead to negative health outcomes if used incorrectly. All three types can significantly harm public health and create confusion in health decision-making.2 For example, skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccine is prevalent in many communities, especially among groups with specific socioeconomic and racial... Given the rapid development of this vaccine, many people have become skeptical about its effectiveness and safety. Stroud’s study showed that people who are able to identify inaccurate health articles are less likely to spread misinformation, have less skepticism about vaccines, and are more likely to get vaccinated.3

Misinformation On Misinformation Conceptual And Sage Journals

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