We have a Google Scholar alert for publications related to “normative misperceptions.” The results are always interesting, even though many are not relevant. We try to do blog posts on the most relevant ones. Every once in a while, there is one that is not directly relevant but that we find interesting in its own right. And so, we offer for your consideration, “Identifying and Correcting Policy Misperceptions“, a paper by Emily Thorson at George Washington University.

Here’s the Abstract of Ms. Thorson”s paper:

This paper argues for the importance of distinguishing between misinformation (false information) and misperceptions (false beliefs). Factual misperceptions are not always the direct result of exposure to misinformation. I identify several substantive policy misperceptions in the American public using a combination of interview and survey data. Long-form interviews with a range of Americans probe the factual beliefs underlying their political opinions. These interviews yielded a number of common factual misperceptions, three of which are discussed in this paper. These misperceptions concern time limits on TANF, the U.S. debt to China, and Social Security. A representative survey confirms that each is present among both Democrats and Republicans. Finally, results from a twowave panel suggest that even a single correction can substantially reduce these misperceptions.

In her research, Ms. Thorson demonstrates that a single correction attempt (which she characterizes as “relatively weak”) had a significant effect on correcting misperceptions. That should give us all some hope!