The Pernicious Effects of Misinformation
“Ask courageous questions. Do not be satisfied with superficial answers. Be open to wonder and at the same time subject all claims to knowledge, without exception, to intense skeptical scrutiny.”
David Z. Hambrick, a professor in the department of psychology at Michigan State University, and Madeline Marquardt, a graduate at the same university with a degree in neuroscience, penned an article published in Scientific American that elaborates on lies. Its title is “Cognitive Ability and Vulnerability to Fake News: Researchers identify a major risk factor for pernicious effects of misinformation.”
One of the studies mentioned in the article was conducted by Ghent University researchers Jonas De keersmaecker and Arne Roets. They concluded that subjects high in cognitive ability are better able to adjust their views while those lower in cognitive ability have more difficulty in letting go of their first impressions. Some people, especially those who score low on tests of cognitive ability, may have a particularly difficult time rejecting misinformation even after being explicitly told that the information was false. Research shows that, repeated over and over, a false story can still be accepted as true, and continue to distort people’s assessments of reality, long after it is debunked and exposed as fake.
Hambrick and Marquardt continued:
“One possible explanation for this finding is based on the theory that a person’s cognitive ability reflects how well they can regulate the contents of working memory—their ‘mental workspace’ for processing information. First proposed by the cognitive psychologists Lynn Hasher and Rose Zacks, this theory holds that some people are more prone to ‘mental clutter’ than other people. In other words, some people are less able to discard (or ‘inhibit’) information from their working memory that is no longer relevant to the task at hand, or information that has been discredited. Research on cognitive aging indicates that, in adulthood, this ability declines considerably with advancing age, suggesting that older adults may also be especially vulnerable to fake news. Another reason why cognitive ability may predict vulnerability to fake news is that it correlates highly with education. Through education, people may develop meta-cognitive skills—strategies for monitoring and regulating one’s own thinking—that can be used to combat the effects of misinformation.”
Another interesting finding is that repeating a false claim increases its believability. This is known as the illusion of truth effect. This phenomenon was first demonstrated in the laboratory by Hasher and her colleagues. The results showed that the subjects mistook familiarity for verity. More recent research reveals that even knowledge of the truth doesn’t necessarily protect against the illusion of truth. A 2015 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Lisa Fazio and her colleagues revealed that repetition increases the perception of false statements as true, even for statements people know to be false.
Hambrick and Marquardt concluded:
“A recommendation that follows from research on the illusion of truth effect is to serve as your own fact checker. If you are convinced that some claim is true, ask yourself why. Is it because you have credible evidence that the claim is true, or is it just because you’ve encountered the claim over and over? Also ask yourself if you know of any evidence that refutes the claim. (You just might be surprised to find that you do.)… At a more general level, this research underscores the threat that fake news poses to democratic society. The aim of using fake news as propaganda is to make people think and behave in ways they wouldn’t otherwise—for example, hold a view that is contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus. When this nefarious aim is achieved, citizens no longer have the ability to act in their own self-interest.”
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is a 1995 book by the astrophysicist Carl Sagan and co-authored by Ann Druyan, in which the author aims to explain the scientific method to laypeople and to encourage people to learn critical and skeptical thinking. He explains methods to help distinguish between ideas that are considered valid science and those that can be considered pseudoscience. Sagan states that when new ideas are offered for consideration, they should be tested by means of skeptical thinking and should stand up to rigorous questioning. He wrote,
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication, and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.”
These days, with such a wide variety of TV networks and Internet outlets, people end up getting their news and forming their opinions from the one source that best reflects their ideas, and the data algorithms keep feeding them with more stories that are pleasing to them. Unfortunately, the exposure to the same opinions, repeated over and over again, without balancing them with opposing views, acts as a form of brainwashing. Some news organizations have no commitment to truthfulness, honesty, integrity, decency, or kindness. In order to augment their audience and profits, they fan the flames of division by spreading falsehoods and misinformation, by escalating tensions, and by invariably pointing at them as the source of our problems. The result is more division. The sensible thing to do would be to not give audience to those who spread lies and water the seeds of discord, because without sharing a common set of facts, meaningful discussion and productive debate is impossible.
So let’s not be lazy. Let's do the work of sorting out truth from falsehood.
Piero Falci teaches Mindfulness Meditation and Mindful Living and the acclaimed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. He leads Insight Meditation Silent Retreats and organizes Silent Peace Walks. Piero is an educator who believes that the inner work that leads to personal awakening and transformation is indispensable to create a wholesome world. He is a promoter of peace who believes in advancing the idea that Heaven is here if we want it to be. "A Better Life in a Better World: Can Mindfulness Save Us from Ourselves?" is his latest book. For more information, visit his website www.pierofalci.com