Prebunking
What Works to Build Mental Immunity - #2
A prebunk is a preemptive refutation of a false claim.1 Prebunks essentially warn people that a false narrative is circulating. They might mention the false narrative, explain why it’s wrong, and urge people not to fall for it. Ideally, a prebunk arrives before the problematic misinformation itself arrives, preparing the mind to produce cognitive “antibodies”– the kinds of questions and doubts that can prevent misinformation from becoming (mis)belief.
Applications
Introduce students to games designed to prebunk common manipulation techniques.2
Inoculate students against common manipulative techniques.3
Learn how to prebunk and/or teach your students how to prebunk.4
Notes
There are many different approaches to pre-bunking. What’s important is that you expose a falsehood to a person or group before they’ve come to believe in it, making sure to expose the manipulative tactics that people are using to spread the misinformation. Unfortunately, you can't always get ahead of viral information using prebunks. Sometimes the falsehoods have already spread. This is when debunking and other techniques come in handy.
Learn More
“Can you outsmart a troll by thinking like one?” 5-min video from TED-Ed5
This is the Second post in our “What Works” series for educators and researchers. We are open to incorporating feedback into these modules before we publish them on our website. Please comment on this post to provide suggestions. We are particularly interested in additional applications, resources, and readings. All constructive feedback is welcomed, even if we don’t add it to the finalized version.
Thank you!
Here’s a good definition: https://thecyberwire.com/glossary/prebunking also explained more extensively on here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/misinformation-desk/202108/what-is-prebunking