Inoculating the Public Against Misinformation about Mindfulness
June 2, 2025 Maris Vainre, Lisa Doan, Cecilie S. Traberg et al. preprint
Misinformation about mindfulness is becoming more common, leading people to ineffective or harmful programs. Inoculation theory suggests that resistance to misinformation can be built by inducing a sense of threat and offering pre-emptive refutations of deceptive techniques. Two experiments evaluated video-based inoculation interventions targeting inflated benefit claims and emotional manipulation in mindfulness marketing. In Study 1 (554 participants), those who viewed an inoculation video rated a misleading mindfulness program advertisement as significantly less reliable than controls. In Study 2 (590 participants), inoculated participants were less likely to say they would participate in a program advertised with misinformation. Inoculation appears promising for building resistance to mindfulness misinformation.