Misinformation, fake news, and “alternative facts” are more prominent than ever. The Oxford Dictionary named “post-truth” as the 2016 word of the year. Science and scientific evidence have been under assault.

　　假消息、假新闻和“另类事实”比以往任何时候都更为突出。2016年牛津词典将“后真相”列为了年度词汇。科学及科学证据遭受质疑。

　　Fortunately, science does have a means to protect itself, and it comes from a branch of psychological research known as inoculation theory. This borrows from the logic of vaccines: A little bit of something bad helps you resist a full-blown case.

　　幸运的是，科学还有一种自保手段，即来自心理学研究分支的接种理论。这一理论借鉴了疫苗的原理：一些不好的东西反而有助于人体抵抗成形的疾病。

　　TWO WAYS MISINFORMATION DAMAGES

　　假消息的两种危害

　　A recent study led by psychology researcher Sander van der Linden found that misinformation about climate change has a significant impact on public perceptions about climate change.

　　近日，心理学研究者桑德·范·得·林登牵头的一项研究发现，关于气候变化的假消息对公众看待气候变化具有重大影响。

　　I found similar results, with misinformation reducing people’s perception of the scientific consensus. Moreover, the misinformation affected some more than others. The more politically conservative a person was, the greater the influence of the misinformation.

　　本人也有类似的发现，即假消息削弱了人们对科学共识的认识。而且，某些人受到假消息的影响比其他人更大。例如，一个人政治上越保守，受假消息的影响就越大。

　　Figure 1. Response to misinformation about climate change.

　　图1 对于气候变化假消息的反应

　　Beyond misinforming people, misinformation has a more insidious and dangerous influence. It doesn’t just misinform. It stops people believing in facts.

　　假消息除了误导人，还带来更危险的潜在影响。它不只误导，还阻碍人们相信事实。

　　SCIENCE’S ANSWER TO SCIENCE DENIAL

　　“否定科学”的科学解释

　　Inoculation theory takes the concept of vaccination, where we are exposed to a weak form of a virus in order to build immunity to the real virus, and applies it to knowledge.

　　接种理论采用疫苗接种的概念并将其应用于知识领域。疫苗接种就是让人体感染弱化病毒，以获得抵抗真正病毒的免疫力。

　　Inoculating text requires two elements. First, it includes an explicit warning about the danger of being misled by misinformation. Second, you need to provide counterarguments explaining the flaws in that misinformation.

　　接种信息需要涵盖两大元素。首先，需要明确警告受到假消息误导的危险。其次，需要提供反驳依据，解释假消息的漏洞。

　　I found that explaining the misinformation technique completely neutralized the misinformation’s influence, without even mentioning the misinformation specifically. Moreover, the misinformation was neutralized across the political spectrum. Whether you’re conservative or liberal, no one wants to be deceived by misleading techniques.

　　本人发现，无需专门提及具体的假消息内容，光是解释假消息漏洞百出的方法便可以抵消其影响。而且，假消息对不同政治倾向的人群的影响都会被抵消。不管保守派还是自由党，没有人愿意被误导人的方法欺骗到。