Decoding Deception: The Psychology of Combating Misinformation

Decoding Deception: The Psychology of Combating Misinformation, a short film produced by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with support from the Pulitzer Center.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Decoding Deception: The Psychology of Combating Misinformation, a short film produced by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with support from the Pulitzer Center, addresses one of the most pressing issues of our time: the quest to stem the swelling tide of misinformation.

Decoding Deception explores potential remedies to this growing societal problem. While social media acts as an accelerant for the rampant spread of misinformation on climate change, public health, and politics, the rise of generative AI risks worsening the problem. Left unchecked, disinformation and misinformation can inflict lasting damage on people, institutions, and society writ large.

Growing interest from a group of interdisciplinary researchers has led to numerous efforts to dissect the problem and seek solutions. Decoding Deception follows researchers at the forefront of such efforts as they attempt to unravel the nature of the infodemic and uncover ways to contain it. Their work has yielded some promising early results, but no easy fixes. In the end, an approach borrowed from the field of public health—one that aims to mitigate threats and quash outbreaks before they spread—might offer the greatest chance of success.

Film trailer:
https://youtu.be/E6SqsREJhgw

The complete film can be freely accessed here:
https://www.pnas.org/post/multimedia/combating-misinformation

MEDIA CONTACT: Gene Russo, PNAS, Washington, DC; tel: 202-334-2699; email: erusso@nas.edu

For rights and permissions, please contact Gene Russo, the film’s co-director and PNAS Front Matter Editor.

About PNAS

PNAS is one of the world's most-cited multidisciplinary scientific journals. It covers the biological, physical, and social sciences and mathematics and publishes cutting-edge Research Reports, Commentaries, Perspectives, Colloquium Papers, and actions of the Academy. PNAS publishes daily online and in weekly issues.

For more information about PNAS or the NAS, visit www.pnas.org or www.nasonline.org

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Article Title

Decoding Deception