Belief in corrective feedback for common misconceptions: Implications for knowledge revision

Rich, Patrick R.; van Loon, Mariëtte H.; Dunlosky, John; Zaragoza, Maria S. (2017). Belief in corrective feedback for common misconceptions: Implications for knowledge revision. Journal of experimental psychology - learning, memory, and cognition, 43(3), pp. 492-501. American Psychological Association 10.1037/xlm0000322

[img] Text
Belief in Corrective Feedback for Common Misconceptions.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to registered users only
Available under License Publisher holds Copyright.

Download (160kB)

When correcting a common misconception, it seems likely that for corrective feedback to be effective, it needs to be believed. In 2 experiments, we assessed how participants’ belief in the validity of corrective feedback regarding individual misconceptions influenced knowledge revision. After responding about the validity of a set of misconceptions, participants received either a refutation alone (feedback that they were correct or incorrect) or a refutation accompanied by a supporting explanation, and then rated their belief in the corrective feedback. One week later, participants once again responded about the validity of the misconceptions. Across both experiments, participants corrected their misconceptions more often when they believed the corrective feedback. In addition, participants corrected their misconceptions more often when they had earlier received a refutation with a supporting explanation than when they had received the refutation only. This benefit of supportive explanations on knowledge revision was mediated by belief in the feedback, suggesting that explanations enhance the effectiveness of a correction by increasing belief in the feedback. These findings imply that successful correction of common misconceptions is likely enhanced by techniques that increase people’s belief in the validity of the corrective feedback.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Developmental Psychology

Graduate School:

Swiss Graduate School for Cognition, Learning and Memory (SGS-CLM)

UniBE Contributor:

van Loon, Mariëtte Henrica

Subjects:

100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology

ISSN:

0278-7393

Publisher:

American Psychological Association

Language:

English

Submitter:

Jennifer Ruth Sprenger

Date Deposited:

24 Apr 2018 16:17

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:09

Publisher DOI:

10.1037/xlm0000322

PubMed ID:

27762579

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.108591

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/108591

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback