Are people more likely to accurately evaluate misinformation when the political stakes are high? Haha, no
Nieman Lab
Imagine you’re walking down the street and a random guy asks you to solve a math problem. A complicated one, but one you know how to solve — it’d just take several minutes of some fairly serious thinking on your part. Would you do it?
Maybe you love math and want nothing more than random afternoon word puzzles. But I’d wager most people would just mumble “sorry” and keep on walking. You have the capacity to solve this rando’s problem, but you don’t really have any incentive to.
Now imagine the same scenario — but this time, the guy says he’ll pay you $500 if your answer is correct. Suddenly, there’s a potential return on your investment of time, so you’re more likely to offer up the mental energy.
This is a fairly established finding in situations where someone is asked to throw some cognition power at a problem. Giving someone a meaningful incentive on a mental problem can lead them to work harder and have a better chance of getting it right.
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