Just the facts, ma'am.
Jin et al. (2023) found evidence seductive pictures do not enhance refutation effects.
Plenty of people have heard the phrase, “Just the facts, ma’am” but nowadays few people know it was popularized in the TV show Dragnet:
Gosh, early TV was great. Why don’t actors punch the camera anymore? Anyway, a video of the main character, Joe Friday, saying his catchphrase “Just the facts, ma’am” is strangely difficult to find online. Here’s the best one I could dig up:
Sticking to the facts, rather than heeding people’s commentary or opinion, was supposed to be the sign of a good investigator. Setting aside the philosophical and humanistic questions such a stance implies, “sticking to the facts” has become pretty difficult in the modern, “infodemic” of misinformation. Exactly what the facts are is often now in dispute, with many people believing misinformation about science topics such as climate change and genetically modified foods. How can we help people understand “the facts” about science?
Thankfully, there’s solid evidence that refutation texts can productively change people’s misconceptions about science topics. Briefly, refutation texts state a common misconception (“Many people think recent drastic changes in our climate are due to natural variation”) then refute it (“However, recent climate changes are not at all natural or typical, and scientists agree they are due to humans’ activities”), and then provide an explanation. Those texts work well at changing people’s understanding. Some people have wondered whether we should be making those texts even more engaging, such as by adding “seductive” pictures (no, not that type of seductive picture…you rascal) to them. You could imagine people might be more engaged with a refutation text on climate change if it had a “fun” picture like this one:
Well, Jin et al. (2023) tested this idea and found evidence that, no, seductive pictures did not enhance the efficacy of refutation texts and that, according to participants’ self-reports, it actually increased the difficulty of processing them. So, at least based on this study, refutation texts should continue to “stick to the facts, ma’am.” Now excuse me as I watch that Dragnet trailer again and practice that “breakdown of my salary” trick for my next meeting with my Dean.