Misinformed and unaware? Metacognition and the influence of inaccurate information.
Abstract
The current study investigated the role of metacognition with respect to the consequences of exposures to inaccurate information. Previous work has consistently demonstrated that exposures to inaccuracies can confuse people and even encourage reliance on the falsehoods. We specifically examined whether people are aware of their likelihood of being influenced by inaccurate information, and whether engaging in metacognitive reflection is effective at reducing this influence. In three experiments, participants read a story containing false assertions about the world. In Experiment 1, we compared participants' estimated resistance to inaccurate information against the degree to which their subsequent judgments actually reflected an influence of previously read inaccuracies. Participants were generally unaware of their susceptibility to inaccurate information, demonstrated by a lack of calibration between estimated and actual resistance. Their judgments consistently revealed an influence of previously read inaccuracies. In Experiment 2, we applied a metacognitive reflection task intended to encourage evaluation while reading. Participants who completed this task made fewer judgment errors after having read inaccurate statements than did participants who did not engage in reflection. Experiment 3 replicated these effects with a larger sample, and showed benefits of reflection for calibrations between people's estimated resistance and their actual performance. The accumulated findin…
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People are generally unaware of their susceptibility to inaccurate information.
“People are generally unaware of their susceptibility to inaccurate information.”
From “ <scp>ChatGPT</scp> can make mistakes. Check important info.” Epistemic beliefs and metacognitive accuracy in students' integration of <scp>ChatGPT</scp> content into academic writing (2025) · cites this paper as Salovich & Rapp, 2021
Those with higher confidence in their ability to resist inaccuracies often made more errors, revealing a lack of metacognitive calibration.
“Those with higher confidence in their ability to resist inaccuracies often made more errors, revealing a lack of metacognitive calibration (Salovich & Rapp, 2021).”
From “ <scp>ChatGPT</scp> can make mistakes. Check important info.” Epistemic beliefs and metacognitive accuracy in students' integration of <scp>ChatGPT</scp> content into academic writing (2025) · cites this paper as Salovich & Rapp, 2021
Higher metacognitive bias is associated with a greater likelihood of making errors when dealing with inaccuracies in texts.
“Additionally, research has shown that higher metacognitive bias is associated with a greater likelihood of making errors when dealing with inaccuracies in texts (Salovich & Rapp, 2021), difficulties in reasoning about controversies (Lang et al., 2021), and greater resistance to correcting misinformed beliefs (Rapp & Withall, 2024).”
From “ <scp>ChatGPT</scp> can make mistakes. Check important info.” Epistemic beliefs and metacognitive accuracy in students' integration of <scp>ChatGPT</scp> content into academic writing (2025) · cites this paper as Salovich & Rapp, 2021
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- Authors
- Salovich, N. A., & Rapp, D. N.
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
- Published
- 2021-04
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 608-624
- ISSN
- 0278-7393 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1285
- OpenAlex
- W3094851342
- Cited by
- 73
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 12.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Strategies and Epistemologies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Keywords
- metacognition, inaccurate information, misinformation, misinformation susceptibility, metacognitive reflection, belief updating
- MeSH terms
- Metacognition, Awareness, Humans, Judgment, Reading, Reproducibility of Results
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