Recent surveys and analyses suggest that our society is vulnerable to absorbing misinformation, including health misinformation, particularly through social media dissemination. In this context, how can we tell if we can trust a source of health information, and what can we do to protect ourselves against inaccurate health advice? Medical News Today investigates.
In today’s world, information travels fast, aided by mass media and social media dissemination. This means that health advice is at our fingertips but it can also mean that we may imbibe inaccurate health information if we are not careful.
We could thus very easily come across health misinformation — information that has been misreported, misinterpreted, or is otherwise inaccurate.
According to a consumer survey conducted by Healthline in 2024, among respondents in the United States, more than half reported they gathered health information via social media, and 32% said they relied on family, friends, and colleagues for health advice.
Yet, despite admitting to relying heavily on social media for information, respondents also overwhelmingly indicated that they did not fully trust the accuracy of these sources.
In the United Kingdom, a nationally representative survey conducted by The Alan Turing Institute in 2024 found that 94% of the population had reportedly witnessed misinformation circulating on social media.
But how can we know if what we are looking at is an accurate piece of information or not? How can we verify our sources of health information? To find out more, Medical News Today spoke with Dawn Holford, PhD, a research fellow in the School of Psychological Science at the University of Bristol, U.K.
Holford is a behavioral science researcher who specializes in the psychology of communication and decision-making, and she has studied strategies for the prevention and rebuttal of health misinformation.
Why do we ‘fall’ for health misinformation?
To better understand why we might fall for health misinformation in our quest for help and advice, we should look at our “attitude roots,” Holford told us.
This concept was coined by psychologist Matthew Hornsey, and it refers to the beliefs and ideas of the world that we have consolidated within our minds since we were young.
“Attitude roots are part of our psychology, and they can be beliefs, worldviews, emotions — basically, they are motivational drivers of how we process information,” explained Holford.
These “roots” can also include emotions like anxiety about something whose mechanics we do not really understand, including invasive medical exams, medications, and vaccines.
“For example, my team and I have looked at 11 different attitude rootsTrusted Source that drive misinformed beliefs about vaccination; these include fears about adverse medical outcomes, religious concerns, or even a tendency to push back against being told to do things — a trait known as ‘reactance.’ When (mis)information is given to us that aligns with our attitude root, we’re more likely to take it on board, as it fits with that underlying motivation. This is quite a common thing in general: People tend to seek out and interpret information in line with their existing patterns of thinking and inquiry.”
— Dawn Holford, PhD
The expert further noted that general anxiety about going to the doctor and undergoing medical procedures could render us more likely to pick up misinformation that might consolidate that fear.
While this may appear unintuitive — why should we want to continue to feel anxious about something? — it is, in reality, consistent with how our brains work.
Research has shown that humans are very much prone to confirmation bias — we like to selectively look for evidence in support of already-held beliefs and anxieties — and, further, this confirmation bias is a tendency so strong that it can be really hard to dislodge.
However, said Holford: “Attitude roots aren’t bad or good in themselves. They are simply our motivators, shaped by our life experiences and thinking patterns. It’s how they interact with the information environment that might lead to believing in misinformation.”
