Universität zu Köln

Speckmann, Felix ORCID: 0000-0002-6790-1693 and Unkelbach, Christian ORCID: 0000-0002-3793-6246 (2021). Monetary incentives do not reduce the repetition-induced truth effect. Psychon. Bull. Rev.. NEW YORK: SPRINGER. ISSN 1531-5320

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

People rate and judge repeated information more true than novel information. This truth-by-repetition effect is of relevance for explaining belief in fake news, conspiracy theories, or misinformation effects. To ascertain whether increased motivation could reduce this effect, we tested the influence of monetary incentives on participants' truth judgments. We used a standard truth paradigm, consisting of a presentation and judgment phase with factually true and false information, and incentivized every truth judgment. Monetary incentives may influence truth judgments in two ways. First, participants may rely more on relevant knowledge, leading to better discrimination between true and false statements. Second, participants may rely less on repetition, leading to a lower bias to respond true. We tested these predictions in a preregistered and high-powered experiment. However, incentives did not influence the percentage of true judgments or correct responses in general, despite participants' longer response times in the incentivized conditions and evidence for knowledge about the statements. Our findings show that even monetary consequences do not protect against the truth-by-repetition effect, further substantiating its robustness and relevance and highlighting its potential hazardous effects when used in purposeful misinformation.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Speckmann, Felix UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-6790-1693 UNSPECIFIED Unkelbach, Christian UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-3793-6246 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-567255
DOI:	10.3758/s13423-021-02046-0
Journal or Publication Title:	Psychon. Bull. Rev.
Date:	2021
Publisher:	SPRINGER
Place of Publication:	NEW YORK
ISSN:	1531-5320
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Human Sciences Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Human Sciences > Department Psychologie Center of Excellence C-SEB
Subjects:	Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language TASK-PERFORMANCE; JUDGMENTS; FLUENCY; STATEMENT; BELIEF Multiple languages Psychology, Mathematical; Psychology, Experimental Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/56725