“Persistence of Myths Could Alter Public Policy Approach”

September 19th, 2007

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a flier to combat myths about the flu vaccine. It recited various commonly held views and labeled them either “true” or “false.” Among those identified as false were statements such as “The side effects are worse than the flu” and “Only older people need flu vaccine.”

When University of Michigan social psychologist Norbert Schwarz had volunteers read the CDC flier, however, he found that within 30 minutes, older people misremembered 28 percent of the false statements as true. Three days later, they remembered 40 percent of the myths as factual.

It’s no news in psychology that whilst people remember facts, they tend to forget who told them those facts, and therefore how credible the information is. The paper linked here describes some interesting consequences of this human trait.

Entry Filed under: General

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