Continued Influence Effect
Misinformation continues to influence beliefs and decisions even after it has been retracted.
The continued influence effect is the tendency to incorrectly continue believing previously learned misinformation even after it has been publicly corrected. Retractions and corrections often fail to undo the influence of the original false claim, sometimes even backfiring by repeating the falsehood. This effect is especially strong when the retraction requires mental effort to accept.
What it looks like in the wild.
- Politics Retracted Study A widely publicized study linking vaccines to autism was retracted, but the false belief persisted in large segments of the public for decades after the retraction.
Recognising a definition is not the same skill as spotting it.
Two scenarios from the app, with distractors drawn from the same family of biases — which is what makes them hard.
Emily's doctor dismissed an online symptom checker's alarming suggestion. She still feels convinced she has the rare condition it mentioned.
Sophia's friend told her that a specific skincare product caused breakouts, but later apologized, saying it was a different product. Sophia still avoids using that skincare product.
Biases rarely arrive alone.
Understand more. Assume less.
188 biases, 18,869 scenarios, and a record of how you actually decide.
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