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Phil Higham

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Phil Higham is a Professor of Experimental Psychology in Psychology at the University of Southampton. His research focuses on long-term human learning, memory, and metacognition, with a particular focus on discovering the basic principles that promote long-term learning both inside and outside the classroom. One major research aim is to use these principles to design interventions that protect people from fake news and deep fakes.

The virus metaphor for misinformation is flawed, and can distract us from solutions

The 'misinformation virus' metaphor may be useful in modelling, but doesn't help us understand susceptibility, or the motivations of spreaders

Comparing misinformation to a virus is neither accurate nor useful in preventing its spread

Portraying misinformation as a virus assumes we're all equally susceptible, and risks distracting us from solutions to the problem it poses
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