Unlicensed Corrections Violate the Gricean Maxims of Communication: Evidence for a Cognitive Mechanism Underlying Misinformation Backfire Effects

Abstract

Successful correction of misinformation is complicated by the possibility of backfire effects where corrections may unintentionally increase false beliefs. Due to the conflicting evidence for the existence of backfire effects in the current literature, the present study investigated the influence of pragmatic licensing (i.e., contextual justification for communicating corrections) on the occurrence of backfire effects. Using text messages to manipulate the presence of misinformation and corrections about the meanings of novel words, we found evidence of a backfire effect occurring as a result of unlicensed negated corrections. Misinformation use was significantly greater when a correction was provided without licensing than when no information was provided at all. We suggest that the backfire effect observed in this study may be the result of a violation of the Gricean maxims of communication, and that this mechanism may help to explain the contradictory findings about the existence of backfire effects when correcting misinformation.