Understanding and Reducing Online Misinformation Across 16 Countries on Six Continents

This course aims to help participants understand and reduce online misinformation across 16 countries on six continents. The learning outcomes include identifying predictors of susceptibility to misinformation, exploring interventions to combat misinformation, and understanding the psychological factors underlying the misinformation challenge globally. Participants will learn about the importance of analytic cognitive styles, accuracy-related motivations, valuing democracy, and the impact of political conservatism on truth discernment. The course teaches strategies such as prompting critical thinking about accuracy, providing digital literacy tips, and utilizing crowdsourced accuracy evaluation to differentiate true from false information. The teaching method involves a keynote presentation by an expert in cognitive science, behavioral economics, and social psychology, combining behavioral experiments, online studies, and mathematical models. This course is intended for individuals interested in psychology, decision-making, misinformation, fake news, political psychology, and promoting human cooperation.