Changing minds without changing hearts? Experimental evidence that inoculation improves discernment of antisemitic misinformation on social media but may be limited in changing identity-driven attitudes

Inoculation theory has emerged as a promising pre-emptive intervention against misinformation, yet few studies have extended it to misinformation driven by social identity processes such as outgroup hostility. Here, we compare the effectiveness of inoculation against identity-salient online misinformation versus misinformation of lower identity salience. Study 1 (N = 250) explores antisemitic misinformation, while Study 2 (N = 250) focuses on Autism treatment misinformation. In line with research suggesting individuals may prioritise identity concerns over accuracy goals when forming their attitudes, we find that, while inoculation improves misinformation discernment about Jews online (d = 0.33, p = .01), it does not significantly reduce antisemitic attitudes (d = 0.16, p =.212). On the other hand, a similar inoculation design against Autism treatment misinformation both improves misinformation discernment about Autism treatment-related tweets (d = 0.68, p < .001) and the ability to discern between credible and uncredible treatments in a separate attitude scale (d = 0.55. p < .001). Our results suggest that while inoculation is effective in improving misinformation discernment, on its own it may be insufficient for the shifting of identity-driven attitudes. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these findings.