Altering Instrumental Learning on Social Media to Make Accuracy a Social Currency

Altering Instrumental Learning on Social Media to Make Accuracy a Social Currency | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Altering Instrumental Learning on Social Media to Make Accuracy a Social Currency Gizem Ceylan, Wendy wood This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5856215/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Misinformation thrives on social media due to instrumental learning, as users sharing interesting content receive rewards of liking and attention from others. In a pretest and three studies (N = 1,874), we curbed misinformation by altering the reward structure to include another basic feature of social perception, competence and credibility. In Experiment 1, incentives for sharing accurate (vs. likable) content improved veracity discernment. Studies 2 and 3 introduced a "trust" button as an instrumental reward for accurate sharing. Trust feedback from others significantly reduced the sharing of interesting misinformation by providing social rewards that taught users to prioritize accuracy. Unlike interventions that rely on individuals to evaluate and prioritize accuracy themselves, altering social media design with trust rewards reshapes behavior through direct social feedback. This learning effect strengthens with more frequent social media use, suggesting that integrating trust-based feedback mechanisms could effectively reduce misinformation sharing. Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Communication Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Decision making Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files alteringinstrumentallearningSM.pdf Altering Instrumental Learning on Social Media to Make Accuracy a Social Currency Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5856215","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":415539648,"identity":"bbc9440e-5d79-47f3-bc53-fa2caf2f9448","order_by":0,"name":"Gizem Ceylan","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAyklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACxgNAor4fwmEmTg9IC+PMBpK1bDhArBb+9h6DAz93MDAbH29/JsFQYZ3YQEiLxJkzBgd7zzCwmZ05YybBcCadsBYDiRyDA7xtDDxmN3LYJBjbDhOhRf6NwcG/bQwSxjPSn0kw/iNGiwSPwWGgLQYGEglmEowNRGiROJNWcFi2TSIB6Clji4Rj6cYEtfC3H9748G2bTQJ/e/vDGx9qrGUJamFg4DAAWQZhJxBWDgLsD4hTNwpGwSgYBSMXAABsBT1QIfCu4QAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3876-9312","institution":"The Ohio State University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gizem","middleName":"","lastName":"Ceylan","suffix":""},{"id":415539649,"identity":"ef73e4a3-4063-4f48-ab3b-d804b249d9b4","order_by":1,"name":"Wendy wood","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6117-558X","institution":"University of Southern California","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wendy","middleName":"","lastName":"wood","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-01-18 16:45:09","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5856215/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5856215/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":80867269,"identity":"f82778d1-46cb-4d70-bf5f-896d6081dd8f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-04-18 03:54:49","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1788717,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"alteringinstrumentallearningMS.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5856215/v1_covered_6ebe87df-e437-4241-9c5d-90929894c733.pdf"},{"id":80866830,"identity":"c520e4d0-2105-48bf-9007-52904e646c37","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-04-18 03:46:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":3731870,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Altering Instrumental Learning on Social Media to Make Accuracy a Social Currency","description":"","filename":"alteringinstrumentallearningSM.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5856215/v1/07d6e3b0745df8fc40d43a6c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Altering Instrumental Learning on Social Media to Make Accuracy a Social Currency","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5856215/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5856215/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Misinformation thrives on social media due to instrumental learning, as users sharing interesting content receive rewards of liking and attention from others. 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