The Effects of Positive and Negative Emotions on Knowledge Revision

Across three experiments, we sought to determine the effects of positive and negative emotional content in refutation texts on correcting controversial misconceptions about vaccines. The addition of negative emotion content to texts that identify and refute vaccine misconceptions and explain the correct understanding improved knowledge revision observed during reading (Experiment 1). However, the addition of positive emotion content to refutation texts weakened this effect (Experiment 2). A direct comparison between negative and positive emotions replicated these findings (Experiment 3). Across experiments, results show that all refutation texts (with or without positive or negative emotions) improved learning assessed after reading. These findings show the differential effects of emotion on revising misconceptions about a controversial topic and provide consistent support for refutation texts as an effective tool in these corrective efforts.