Table 1.

Summary of backfire effects.

Backfire effect	Brief description	References	Evidence?	Source
Familiarity backfire effect	Repeated exposure to misinformation can increase an individuals familiarity with that misinformation, potentially leading them to assume it to be true.	Skurnik et al., 2005	+	Direct
Overkill backfire effect	When attempting to correct misinformation, conveying many counterarguments is cognitively taxing and can potentially lead people to reject the alternative explanation being advocated in favor of a simpler account based on the misinformation.	Schwarz et al., 2007	+	Indirect
Attitude polarization backfire effect	When confronted with belief-incongruent information, people tend to selectively call to mind evidence and arguments in opposition to this information, leading them to cling to their original beliefs even stronger than before.	Lord et al., 1979; Ditto and Lopez, 1992; Ditto et al., 2009; Kahan et al., 2010	+++	Direct + indirect
Sacred values backfire effect	When attitudes or beliefs are viewed as sacred—or as part of one's deeply held beliefs—monetary incentives or disincentives to change behavior tend to engender moral outrage and greater resistance to the behavior being advocated.	Tetlock, 2003; Ginges et al., 2007; Berns et al., 2012	++	Indirect
Social norms backfire effect	Highlighting an undesirable behavior as being regrettably frequent can backfire by communicating a descriptive norm signaling that the behavior is common, and therefore normal and approved of by others.	Cialdini et al., 1990; Cialdini, 2003; Cialdini et al., 2006	+++	Indirect
Group directed threat backfire effect	Messages that criticize a particular group—such as vaccine hesitant parents—can lead that group to show stronger group affiliation and greater resistance to out-group recommendations.	Ellemers et al., 2002	+++	Indirect
Fear appeals backfire effect	Persuasive messages that induce fear to encourage individuals to accept the messages' recommendations can potentially backfire by triggering defensive and avoidant responses.	Peters et al., 2013; Nyhan et al., 2014; Ruiter et al., 2014	++	Direct + indirect