Toby Prike

Dr Toby Prike

Lecturer

School of Psychology

College of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD as Principal Supervisor - email supervisor to discuss availability.

I am primarily a cognitive psychologist, but also extensively incorporate social psychology and individual differences research within my work. I am interested in how and why we believe the things we do, and the impacts of those beliefs

I am also a strong advocate for scientific reform, including advocating for open science and other reforms to enhance scientific credibility. Related to these interests, I thoroughly enjoy teaching research methods and statistics, and encouraging critical and scientific thinking in my students.

My primary research interests focus on the impact of misinformation and non-evidence-based beliefs (e.g., conspiracy theories, paranormal beliefs, science denial), with an emphasis on strategies that can be used to try and reduce their influence and negative impacts. I also maintain a broader set of research interests across the domains of migration, metacognition, reasoning, and cognitive bias.

Date Position Institution name
2024 - ongoing Lecturer Adelaide University
2021 - 2024 Research Associate University of Western Australia
2018 - 2021 Research Fellow University of Southampton

Date Institution name Country Title
2018 Flinders University Australia PhD
2013 Flinders University Australia Honours
2012 University of South Australia Australia Bachelor of Psychological Science

Year Citation
2026 Spearing, E. R., Fiori, R., Newman, E., Prike, T., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2026). Reducing the Belief-Boosting Impact of Misleading Graphs With Inoculation. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 1-14.
DOI
2026 Prike, T., Bijak, J., & Higham, P. A. (2026). Eliciting Utility Functions for International Migration Decisions. Population, Space and Place, 32(4), 13 pages.
DOI
2026 McIlhiney, P., Prike, T., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2026). The Influence of Age on the Effectiveness of Misinformation Retractions. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 40(4), e70255-1-e70255-10.
DOI
2025 Prike, T., Baker, J., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2025). Fact-checking election-campaign misinformation: Impacts on noncommitted voters' feelings and behavior. Political Psychology, 46(5), 1081-1100.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2
2025 Georgiou, N., Balzan, R. P., Butler, L., van Antwerpen, N., Prike, T., & Delfabbro, P. (2025). Effectiveness of the Scientific Reasoning Intervention on Reducing Online Conspiracy Beliefs and Misinformation Engagement: A Study Using the (Mis)Information Game. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 39(4), 12 pages.
DOI
2025 Spearing, E. R., Gile, C. I., Fogwill, A. L., Prike, T., Swire-Thompson, B., Lewandowsky, S., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2025). Countering AI-generated misinformation with pre-emptive source discreditation and debunking. Royal Society Open Science, 12(6), 242148-1-242148-20.
DOI Scopus13 WoS10 Europe PMC3
2024 Butler, L. H., Lamont, P., Wan, D. L. Y., Prike, T., Nasim, M., Walker, B., . . . Ecker, U. K. H. (2024). The (Mis)Information Game: A social media simulator. Behavior Research Methods, 56(3), 2376-2397.
DOI Scopus31 WoS27 Europe PMC13
2024 Prike, T., Butler, L. H., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2024). Source-credibility information and social norms improve truth discernment and reduce engagement with misinformation online. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 6900-1-6900-11.
DOI Scopus33 WoS32 Europe PMC13
2024 Butler, L. H., Prike, T., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2024). Nudge-based misinformation interventions are effective in information environments with low misinformation prevalence. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 11495-1-11495-12.
DOI Scopus21 WoS14 Europe PMC5
2024 Modirrousta-Galian, A., Prike, T., Higham, P. A., Hinsch, M., Nurse, S., Belabbas, S., & Bijak, J. (2024). Exploring the Potential of Using a Text-Based Game to Inform Simulation Models of Risky Migration Decisions. Simulation and Gaming, 55(4), 716-735.
DOI Scopus3 WoS2
2024 Wilsdorf, P., Reinhardt, O., Prike, T., Hinsch, M., Bijak, J., & Uhrmacher, A. M. (2024). Simulation studies of social systems: telling the story based on provenance patterns.. Royal Society open science, 11(8), 240258-1-240258-24.
DOI Scopus3 WoS1 Europe PMC2
2024 Ecker, U. K. H., Prike, T., Paver, A. B., Scott, R. J., & Swire-Thompson, B. (2024). Don't believe them! Reducing misinformation influence through source discreditation. Cognitive Research, 9(1), 52-1-52-18.
DOI Scopus18 WoS18 Europe PMC10
2024 Prike, T., Holloway, J., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2024). Intellectual humility is associated with greater misinformation discernment and metacognitive insight but not response bias. advances.in/psychology, 2(1), e020433-1-e020433-24.
DOI Scopus9
2024 Bijak, J., Modirrousta-Galian, A., Higham, P. A., Prike, T., Hinsch, M., & Nurse, S. (2024). Investigating immersion and migration decisions for agent-based modelling: A cautionary tale.. Open Res Eur, 3, 34.
DOI
2023 Prike, T., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2023). Effective correction of misinformation. Current Opinion in Psychology, 54, 101712-1-101712-6.
DOI Scopus62 WoS59 Europe PMC22
2023 Prike, T., Blackley, P., Swire-Thompson, B., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2023). Examining the replicability of backfire effects after standalone corrections. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 8(1), 39-1-39-17.
DOI Scopus20 WoS17 Europe PMC7
2023 Prike, T., Reason, R., Ecker, U. K. H., Swire-Thompson, B., & Lewandowsky, S. (2023). Would I lie to you? Party affiliation is more important than Brexit in processing political misinformation. Royal Society Open Science, 10(2), 220508-1-220508-16.
DOI Scopus10 WoS6 Europe PMC4
2023 Greene, C. M., De Saint Laurent, C., Murphy, G., Prike, T., Hegarty, K., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2023). Best Practices for Ethical Conduct of Misinformation Research: A Scoping Review and Critical Commentary. European Psychologist, 28(3), 139-150.
DOI Scopus34 WoS31
2022 Prike, T., Bijak, J., Higham, P. A., & Hilton, J. (2022). How Safe Is This Trip? Judging Personal Safety in a Pandemic Based on Information From Different Sources. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 28(3), 509-524.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC1
2021 Czaika, M., Bijak, J., & Prike, T. (2021). Migration Decision-Making and Its Key Dimensions. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 697(1), 15-31.
DOI Scopus89 WoS73
2020 Prike, T., Arnold, M. M., & Williamson, P. (2020). The relationship between anomalistic belief, misperception of chance and the base rate fallacy. Thinking and Reasoning, 26(3), 447-477.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7
2018 Prike, T., Arnold, M. M., & Williamson, P. (2018). The relationship between anomalistic belief and biases of evidence integration and jumping to conclusions. Acta Psychologica, 190, 217-227.
DOI Scopus17 WoS13 Europe PMC7
2017 Prike, T., Arnold, M. M., & Williamson, P. (2017). Psychics, aliens, or experience? Using the Anomalistic Belief Scale to examine the relationship between type of belief and probabilistic reasoning. Consciousness and Cognition, 53, 151-164.
DOI Scopus17 WoS16 Europe PMC10
2016 Arnold, M. M., Chisholm, L. M., & Prike, T. (2016). No pain no gain: The positive impact of punishment on the strategic regulation of accuracy. Memory, 24(2), 146-153.
DOI Scopus6 WoS6 Europe PMC1
2015 Arnold, M. M., & Prike, T. (2015). Comparative difficulty and the strategic regulation of accuracy: The impact of test-list context on monitoring and meta-metacognition. Acta Psychologica, 157, 155-163.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5 Europe PMC1

Year Citation
2022 Bijak, J. (2022). Towards Bayesian Model-Based Demography. Springer International Publishing.
DOI

Year Citation
2021 Bijak, J., Hilton, J., Hinsch, M., Lipscombe, K., Nurse, S., Prike, T., . . . Grow, A. (2021). Teaching a Modeling Process: Reflections from An Online Course. In Proceedings - Winter Simulation Conference Vol. 2021-December (pp. 12 pages). Phoenix, AZ, USA: IEEE.
DOI Scopus1
2020 Bijak, J., Higham, P. A., Hilton, J., Hinsch, M., Nurse, S., Prike, T., . . . Uhrmacher, A. M. (2020). Modelling Migration: Decisions, Processes and Outcomes. In Proceedings - Winter Simulation Conference Vol. 2020-December (pp. 2613-2624). Orlando, FL, USA: IEEE.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5

Year Citation
2026 D'Aloia, T. E., van Antwerpen, N., & Prike, T. (2026). Understanding Misinformation Exposure: Effects on Societal Attitudes, Trust in Institutions, Perceptions of Morality, and Affective Polarisation.
DOI
2026 Butler, L., Gile, C. I., Prike, T., Hertwig, R., Swire-Thompson, B., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2026). Brief Summarization Improves Effectiveness of Fact-Checks, whereas a Mental-Imagery-Based Mnemonic Does Not.
DOI
2026 Prike, T., Walker, B., Fay, N., Perfors, A., Kashima, Y., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2026). Misinformation Spread in Transmission Chains.
DOI
2025 van Antwerpen, N., Makhlouf, L., & Prike, T. (2025). Corrections of Scientific Misinformation are Impacted by Source Traits and More Effective When Labelled as a Fact-Check.
DOI
2025 van Antwerpen, N., Prike, T., Summerell, E., Stephens, R. G., & Moeck, E. (2025). Attitudes to Democracy, Information Sources, and Self-Reported Misinformation Exposure in a Federal Election: An Australian Experience Sampling Study.
DOI
2025 Fay, N., Walker, B., Prike, T., Ecker, U. K. H., Butler, L., Howe, P., & Ye, M. (2025). How might a dislike option affect how people evaluate and engage with online content?.
DOI
2025 Tay, L. Q., Platow, M. J., Spears, R., Reynolds, K., Ecker, U. K. H., & Prike, T. (2025). Broadening Misinformation Research: The Roles of Evidence Retrievability and Epistemic Bridging.
DOI
2022 Greene, C., Murphy, G., de Saint Laurent, C., Prike, T., Hegarty, K., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2022). Best Practices for Ethical Conduct of Misinformation Research: A Scoping Review and Critical Commentary.
DOI

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Principal Supervisor The interaction of psychological, linguistic, and platform dynamics in shaping the conspiratorial misinformation ecosystem in digital environments Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Rituparna Mukherjee

Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
2025 - 2026 External Supervisor The metacognitive advantage of reflective thinking: Pathways to reasoning and meta-reasoning on conflict tasks Flinders University - Doctorate Full Time Henry Strudwicke

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