In the News: Emily Thorson

"Corrections of misinformation are constantly being amplified," says Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science. People are trying to do something good by correcting the misinformation but in the process they're "pushing it out to more people and potentially causing more belief echoes to arise."

Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science, defines "belief echoes" as "effects on attitudes that persist even when you know that a piece of information is false."

"I’d argue that much of the dysfunction we see in online interactions is just a symptom of much larger and older social problems, including but not limited to racism and misogyny," says Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science.

According to Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science, negative misinformation about a politician of an opposing party is hard to shake, even after people learn that the original story was false.

"Most people are not being inundated with fake news," says Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science. "That is not to say that this isn’t a problem, but I don’t think this is the magnitude of a problem that people often think it is."

"My sense is that he's relying on some stock phrases that he pulls out again and again, especially when he's called on to make a statement about an issue that perhaps he hasn't done a lot of research on or doesn't have a lot of information on," says Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science. 

According to Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science, it's difficult to separate non-football issues—such as politics, concussions, cord-cutting and other unknown factors—from the events on the field.

Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science, found that relatively simple corrections could reduce some misperceptions by as much as 20 percentage points or more.

Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science, was interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) for the Central Time segment "How To Spot And Fight Fake News." Thorson advises people to be wary of spreading fake news just to correct it. "It's hard to . . . unring that bell of misinformation," she says.

"When you see a piece of misinformation, even when it’s in the context of being corrected and you believe the correction, it can still have lingering effects on your attitudes," says Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science.

"People have always been susceptible to misinformation," Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science, says. "The real challenge now lies in the immediacy, scope and ease of dissemination we now see with new technologies like social media."

Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science, and her co-author found through survey research that sports fans tend to harbor more right-leaning attitudes on economic and foreign policy issues, even as Republicans are no more likely than Democrats to follow most sports.