Correction: The psychological cycle of misinformation: an integrative model of legitimation perception in social networks

Nascimento, Ivan Kaminski Do

doi:10.3389/frsps.2025.1690462

CORRECTION article

Front. Soc. Psychol., 11 September 2025

Sec. Intergroup Relations and Group Processes

Volume 3 - 2025 | https://doi.org/10.3389/frsps.2025.1690462

Correction: The psychological cycle of misinformation: an integrative model of legitimation perception in social networks

This article is a correction to:

The psychological cycle of misinformation: an integrative model of legitimation perception in social networks
1. Read original article

Ivan Kaminski Do Nascimento^*

Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Brasília (UCB), Brasília, Brazil

A Correction on
The psychological cycle of misinformation: an integrative model of legitimation perception in social networks

by Nascimento, I. K. D. (2025). Front. Soc. Psychol. 3:1621794. doi: 10.3389/frsps.2025.1621794

In the published article, there was a terminological error in Figure 1. The graphical representation incorrectly used the term “disinformation”, while the entire article consistently addresses the phenomenon of “misinformation”. This was caused by a translation error during figure preparation as, in Portuguese, both “misinformation” and “disinformation” are commonly translated as ^*desinformação^*, which led to the unintentional misuse of terminology in the image.

A corrected version of Figure 1 has been provided below.

Figure 1

Flowchart depicting the cycle of digital information exposure. It begins with “Active Digital Environment,” leading to stages like “Exposure to Socially Relevant Information,” “Judgment and Decision to Share,” “Feedback or Correction Reception,” “Dissonance Regulation,” and “Reinforcement of Behavior and Group Status.” Moderators such as “Social Conformity” and “Overconfidence” influence the process. Mediators like “Emotions” and “Cognitive Dissonance” interact with various stages. Lines represent flows, mediations, influences, and moderations, with detailed arrows indicating directions and connections. The legend explains shapes and line types.

Figure 1. Graphical representation of the psychosocial cycle of misinformation. The cycle comprises five interdependent stages—exposure, judgment and sharing, feedback, dissonance regulation, and reinforcement—sustained by the interaction of overconfidence bias, social conformity, and cognitive dissonance. Emotional factors act as modulators, amplifying or attenuating the dynamics at each stage. This cycle explains the psychosocial legitimation and persistence of misinformation in digital environments. Shapes: blue rectangle: cycle stage; green oval: mediator; red rectangle: moderator; yellow rectangle: digital environment; arrows: black thick solid line: main flow of the cycle; black thin solid line: mediation (generates, leads to); green dotted line: emotional influence; red dotted line: moderation; purple dashed line: dissonance-emotion interaction; blue dashed line: influence on selective exposure.

The original version of this article has been updated.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Keywords: misinformation, social networks, overconfidence, social conformity, cognitive dissonance, social psychology

Citation: Nascimento IKD (2025) Correction: The psychological cycle of misinformation: an integrative model of legitimation perception in social networks. Front. Soc. Psychol. 3:1690462. doi: 10.3389/frsps.2025.1690462

Received: 21 August 2025; Accepted: 26 August 2025;
Published: 11 September 2025.

Edited and reviewed by: Gabriela Zago, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil

Copyright © 2025 Nascimento. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Ivan Kaminski Do Nascimento, aWlrYW1pbnNraUBnbWFpbC5jb20=

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.