What Really Works Against Disinformation? Paper Outcome Surprised Researchers
A new academic study, co-authored by Berenika Tužilová, a doctoral student at the Faculty of Economics of Prague University of Economics and Business, offers important insights into how to reduce people’s trust in false and manipulative information. The research shows that the most effective defense is a factual correction of disinformation after people have been exposed to it.
Disinformation is an increasingly serious problem that affects public debate as well as people’s decision-making. This is precisely the area addressed by the new academic study Timing Matters: The Effects of Prebunking Versus Debunking on Trust in Disinformation. The research compares two approaches to limiting the influence of false information: preventative explanation before such information spreads, and subsequent factual correction after people have encountered it.
“The spread of disinformation represents a significant societal challenge, which, according to surveys, is also perceived as a problem by the majority of Slovakia’s population. Today, this phenomenon is being amplified by changes in the media environment, especially on social media, where the emphasis is shifting from informing people to capturing their attention. Our research suggests that effectively refuting disinformation requires a suitably chosen intervention, not only in terms of content, but also timing,” said Berenika Tužilová of the Department of Economics at the Faculty of Economics.
Which Works Better: Prevention or Correction?
The study was conducted in collaboration with Matej Lorko of the Faculty of Business Administration of Prague University of Economics and Business, Vladimíra Čavojová of the Institute of Experimental Psychology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Jakub Šrol of the Institute of Experimental Psychology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Richard Priesol of the Institute for Financial Policy, and Paulína Jalakšová of the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Comenius University.
The results of four experiments involving more than three thousand participants showed that factual correction of false information works more reliably and has a longer-lasting effect than preventive warning alone. The research focused on disinformation related to the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as other political topics, climate, and health.
“We first tested the experiment during Behavioral Economics seminars with my students in Bratislava. We were surprised that correction was significantly more successful than prevention. We later found similar results in three different representative samples, so these effects appear to be fairly robust,” said Matej Lorko of the Department of Managerial Economics at the Faculty of Business Administration of Prague University of Economics and Business.
Findings Surprise the Researchers
The research also showed that concerns about the so-called backfire effect were not confirmed (the concern that correcting disinformation might lead some groups to believe the false claim even more strongly). However, the authors note that debunking can also lead to greater overall caution, meaning that after corrections, people trust not only false statements less, but, to some extent, true statements as well.
The Faculty of Economics of Prague University of Economics and Business has long supported the involvement of doctoral students in international research and academic collaboration. Berenika Tužilová’s participation in this study confirms that the faculty’s young researchers are contributing to current issues with significant societal impact.
Publication: Lorko, M., Čavojová, V., Šrol, J., Priesol, R., Jalakšová, P., & Tužilová, B. (2026). Timing Matters: The Effects of Prebunking Versus Debunking on Trust in Disinformation. Personality & social psychology bulletin, 1461672251411571. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251411571