The article reports that Americans overestimate how many social media users engage in harmful online behavior, estimating higher prevalence than what is found in platform data. It examines how these misperceptions can influence views of society and moral decline, and tests a misperception correction approach. The findings highlight a small, active minority as the main source of toxic content and false news online.

This topic is of interest to psychology enthusiasts because it explores cognitive biases in social perception, the impact of beliefs about others on trust and cynicism, and how corrective information can shift attitudes toward social morality.

Article Title: Americans systematically overestimate how many social media users contribute to harmful online behavior

Link to PsyPost Article: https://nolinkpreview.com/www.psypost.org/americans-systematically-overestimate-how-many-social-media-users-contribute-to-harmful-online-behavior/

#socialmedia #misperception #psychology #cynicism #trust #moraldecline #toxiccomments #false news #onlinebehavior #researchstudy

"Oh, interesting! Is that a new #mastodon feature? Or maybe a new thing just for #elkzone ?"

I am not a smart human.

#misperception #silly #NotSmart

"The global average of those willing to contribute was 69%. But the percentage that people thought would be willing was 43%. The gap between perception and reality was as high as 40 percentage points in some countries" https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/22/activate-climate-silent-majority-support-supercharge-action "A huge 89% majority of the world’s people want stronger action to fight the climate crisis but feel they are trapped in a self-fulfilling “spiral of silence” because they mistakenly believe they are in a minority" #misperception #media
Activate climate’s ‘silent majority’ to supercharge action, experts say

Making concerned people aware their views are far from alone could unlock the change so urgently needed

The Guardian

Because I have my issues, there is a certain word which--especially in the sans serif fonts so ubiquitous online--I ALWAYS read wrong at least once, then have to go back and re-read it.

So of course tonight I'm seeing dozens of posts about eggcorn book titties.

#EggcornBookTitles
#misperception
#readThatWrong