Open AccessWhy Retractions of Numerical Misinformation Fail: The Anchoring Effect of Inaccurate Numbers in the News
Author(s) -
Marlis Stubenvoll,
Jörg Matthes
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journalism and mass communication quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.02
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 2161-430X
pISSN - 1077-6990
DOI - 10.1177/10776990211021800
Subject(s) - misinformation , anchoring , distrust , context (archaeology) , politics , social psychology , psychology , sample (material) , consumption (sociology) , test (biology) , advertising , political science , sociology , law , social science , history , business , chemistry , archaeology , chromatography , paleontology , biology , psychotherapist
Numbers can convey critical information about political issues, yet statistics are sometimes cited incorrectly by political actors. Drawing on real-world examples of numerical misinformation, the current study provides a first test of the anchoring bias in the context of news consumption. Anchoring describes how evidently wrong and even irrelevant numbers might change people’s judgments. Results of a survey experiment with a sample of N = 413 citizens indicate that even when individuals see a retraction and distrust the presented misinformation, they stay biased toward the initially seen inaccurate number.