An Analysis of Studies Testing Digital Interventions to Inoculate Against Misinformation: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The proliferation of misinformation has stimulated research into games and videos to reduce susceptibility to misinformation via psychological inoculation. This research field applies several recent extensions of inoculation theory in novel ways, posing the question of whether such interventions are indeed producing inoculation effects. We conducted a systematic review ( k = 72) to establish the strength of the links between inoculation theory and the outcomes of the tests. We found that the studies did not pose hypotheses relating to the core factors of inoculation theory: threat conferral and counterarguing. Moreover, empirical designs and analyses have introduced confounding factors. Therefore, links between psychological inoculation theory and the tests are weak, and the question of whether the interventions inoculate remains unbroached. We recommend that future research include theoretically relevant variables in improved empirical tests and that researchers exercise caution in interpreting the results of existing studies as representative of psychological inoculation effects.